Salazar’s Land Swap Bill Triggers Colorado Dust-Up

But the way the swap would be executed has drawn criticism in the region.

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That legislation has been introduced by Rep. John Salazar, a Democrat who represents the region (and who is the brother of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar) and who has received campaign contributions from Mr. Koch.

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Federal officials at a Bureau of Land Management field office raised several concerns about the proposed swap in a draft memo that was leaked to environmentalists. They noted that a study in the 1980s of federal holdings in the area identified other parcels that could be traded without harm to the public interest—but the road through Mr. Koch’s land was not on that list.

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One of the world’s wealthiest men, Mr. Koch has influenced federal land-use policy in Colorado before. Earlier this year, one of his companies received federal permission to expand a coal mine by building temporary roads through a swath of national forest protected as ‘roadless’ land.

The property that Mr. Koch wants to acquire in Colorado includes prime, low-lying elk-hunting ground and County Road 2, which federal officials and local hunters say offers the easiest public access into the Ragged Mountains wilderness area. Except in inclement weather, the road can be driven by most vehicles. ‘It’s an annoyance to him, but to us, it’s access,’ said Ed Marston, a local environmental activist.

Read more: (Stephanie Simon, “Land Swap Triggers Colorado Dust-Up,” Wall Street Journal, 08/20/10)