Early July 2016 my brother sent me a link to a real estate listing for a 2000 acre parcel sandwiched between the landowner association where my family has a couple cabins and a Wildlife Management Area here in northern Utah. This was a parcel that for many, many years I had access to hunt through a second landowner association that my family held a share in. Legal proceedings had been ongoing for several years due to the majority shareholder wanting to break away from the minority shareholders and with those legal proceedings finalizing earlier in 2016, the writing was on the wall and I would lose access to hunt that property. I would also lose access to the more remote reaches of that WMA… and selfishly, some of my favorite spots to hunt would become exponentially more difficult to access. I had always known that once the legal proceedings were finalized this would unfortunately be the case.
I decided that I would reach out to the state and the DWR because since I didn’t have a cool $3 million in cash just laying around that having the state buy the land and incorporate it into the current WMA was the easiest (and probably only) way for me to ever gain access to those places that I had hunted for years. I sent the DWR an email through their general comment/contact email address and got no response. I’ll have to admit that after a couple days frustration began to build with not getting even an acknowledgement that somebody had seen the email and I would dare say even a little panic set in.
I decided to get a bigger hammer… I needed somebody with a little more sway and clout when it came to the politics to help me. I don’t know anybody personally with that kind of influence so I decided to reach out to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation because from my experience they appeared to be one of the more reputable (my opinion) conservation organizations in the current environment. From their website I found the contact information for several members of their leadership and I sent them virtually the same email that just days before I sent to the DWR. Within two hours I received a response from the Senior Lands Program Manager (Mr. Hammond). He requested some additional information from me and I shared everything I had with him.
The fall hunts came and went, and for the first time hunting from the family cabin there were areas of the mountain that were posted “No Trespassing” and as I mentioned before, many of my favorite spots were off limits. It was frustrating to look and see game in areas where in previous years I would have given chase but now was off limits. I had a muzzleloader deer, general muzzleloader elk, and a late season cow elk tag for the unit and by the end of the season I was discouraged trying to navigate these new boundaries.
I didn’t give much thought to my previous contact with the guys at RMEF until after the Utah application period had ended and the prospect of a second year with the same hurdles weighed on my mind. I reached out again to Mr. Hammond and the next day I received an email from him stating that he had spoken with a member of the DWR and the state was working to acquire the property. It was definitely an unexpected response, and I immediately tried to get in contact with somebody in the DWR with any knowledge of the situation.
I eventually obtained the contact information for the Land & Water Assets Manager for the DWR (Mr. Hansen) and arranged to have a phone call with him. On the call I introduced myself and he said, “Ah, the guy responsible for all this…” He told me of the process that the state went through, that there were four properties that had the state’s attention and that after several presentations and committee meetings that this property had received almost unanimous approval for a proposal to purchase. There were still a few hurdles yet remaining but he was hopeful that the sale would close by the end of April 2017.
The end of April came and went with the closing being delayed due to a change in the application process for grant monies. The funding for the purchase of this land would largely come from Pittman-Robertson Funds which are taxes collected on sales of rifles and ammunition (at least in part), and with the change over to the Trump administration there were new requirements to be met before funding could be granted. Mr. Hansen asked that I reach out to the landowner association members and request that they send him letters in support of the purchase. These letters would be included in the closing packet and reviewed by the governor prior to him officially signing the closing documents.
From the end of April, through May and June I continued to reach out to landowners and request their support. I continued to correspond with Mr. Hansen regularly as he negotiated new and unexpected hurdles. I was extremely optimistic but realized just how quickly navigating the political labyrinth of the government can sap that optimism and by the end of June I was honestly doubtful that the purchase would ever get closed.
On July 5th I received an email from Mr. Hansen that said, “I wanted to drop you a note and let you know that DWR's effort to purchase the (parcel) as part of the Wildlife Management Area was successful the latter part of last week. Thank you very much for your support and the support of your friends and neighbors; it very much made a difference.”
It is still difficult to describe the magnitude of the emotions that I felt when I read that. Of course I texted everyone that I knew the news and many of the responses were congratulatory in nature. I felt foolish in taking credit for any of it because the whole idea originated from a fit of selfishness in losing access to some of “my hunting spots”… and so much of the actual heavy lifting was done by Mr. Hansen and others. I am grateful for the initial efforts of the RMEF group. I feel that they were instrumental in getting the ball rolling and at minimum getting the DWR to initially consider the proposal. I am extremely grateful for the efforts of Mr. Hansen at the Utah DWR, the hurdles and red tape that he negotiated with the administration changes and acquiring the funding was no small task. We owe him a debt of gratitude for the countless hours and late nights (I spoke with him a number of times on the phone late in the evening and he was still at the office).
I am happy to have played a role in the acquisition of 2000 acres of now public hunting area that was previously privately controlled. It is beautiful country that I am proud to say is now open to any and all who desire to recreate on it. Personally, I cannot wait to hunt it again (and forever in the future) after being unable to last year.
Here are some images from the parcel that was purchased:
