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Date: Dec 31, 2009; Section: Front Page; Page: 1

Ranch land would be traded for prime Mesa del Sol property
By Phil Parker and Mark Oswald

Of the Journal

The New Mexico Attorney General’s Office is calling for delay of controversial proposed trades of state trust land for
private ranch property in the White Peak area of northeast New Mexico.
A letter from Chief Deputy Attorney General Albert Lama to Land Commissioner Pat Lyons says there are “sig nificant
concerns” about whether the state is getting a fair shake in the land exchanges.
Lyons wants to swap more than 14,000 acres in trust land — most of it near White Peak north of Ocate, but also trust
acreage in Albuquerque and near Española in northern Santa Fe County — for 9,656 acres from four White Peak
ranches.
There are “sig ni f icant defects” in the appraisal used to determine the value of land involved in one of the proposed
trades, with the Express UU Bar ranch, Lama wrote. Lama said the AG’s office is in the process of reviewing the
appraisals for the other three White Peak trades and that those appraisals also appear to have problems.
The four ranches involved in the trades paid for the appraisals used by the Land Office.
The Attorney General’s Office is asking “that none of the four proposed land exchanges proceed until adequate
appraisals have been done,” Lama said in his Dec. 23 letter to Lyons.
A spokeswoman for the Land Office had no comment Wednesday afternoon.
Phil Sisneros, spokesman for Attorney General Gary King, wouldn’t say if King’s staff is prepared to go to court to
stop the White Peak deals. The trades have been opposed by area hunters, the New Mexico Wildlife Federation and
others.
“That certainly remains to be seen,” Sisneros said of the possibility of legal action. “That would not be done lightly. We
will have to evaluate what would our next move will be.”
Lama’s letter to Lyons says the Attorney General’s Office wants to work with the Land Office to resolve concerns and
“ensure that the land exchanges proceed in accor dance with applicable law” that requires appraisal of the true value of
land prior to sale or other disposition of state trust holdings.
Boundary maze
Lyons has said the White Peak trades would resolve longstanding access and boundary problems. Ranchers complain
that the current maze of private and trust tracts around White Peak has led to elk poaching, trespassing, extensive
littering and vandalism of gates and fences.
But opponents say Lyons is giving up prime elk habitat and scenic areas long enjoyed by the public for much less
desirable or overgrazed land.
Also, former Land Commissioner Ray Powell has criticized Lyons’ plan to give the CS Cattle ranch 41 state trust acres
in Albuquerque’s Mesa del Sol area in one of the White Peak trades. Powell maintains that the commercial prospects for
the urban land outstrips potential revenue from grazing leases on the rural White Peak land that the Land Office would
get from CS Cattle.
In another part of the land exchanges that extends beyond White Peak, CS Cattle would also get 3,600 acres on
either side of U.S. 84/285 just south of Española. The Land Office has said CS Cattle would likely sell that acreage to
Santa Clara Pueblo.
State trust lands, managed by the Land Office, generate revenue for schools, prisons and other state government
purposes.
State Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, recently sent a letter to the Attorney General’s Office asking for an inquiry into
whether the swaps are fair and legal. He said Wednesday that he shares many of the concerns expressed in Lama’s

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letter to Lyons.
“These are not minor concerns,” he said, “and they go straight to the heart of the responsibilities of the la nd com m
issioner a nd whether those responsibilities were fulfilled.” Lama’s letter says the Attorney General’s Office is worried
“that the revenue-generating potential of the lands the State would receive may be significantly less than the
revenuegenerating potential of the lands the state is offering.”
Appraisal issues
The letter also says AG’s office has consulted with an independent appraiser who found defects with the appraisal
used in the trade with UU Bar ranch. The UU Bar appraisal “appears to be a summary appraisal that does not
adequately serve the purpose of appraising a large, complex transaction such this,” Lama wrote.
Also, his letter said, the appraisal “is riddled with technical and clerical errors, some of which appear to affect
conclusions related to the value of the subject lands.”
UU Bar would get 3,431 acres of current trust land in exchange for 3,610 acres of existing ranch property, the Land
Office has said. The state trust and private lands have virtually equal value — about $2.4 million — according to a
document previously provided by the Land Office.
But in conf lict with the information released by the Land Office, Lama’s letter says the Land Office appraisal actually
found that the trust lands the state would swap to UU Bar are worth $5.5 million, not $2.4 million.
Lama said the Land Office’s bid instructions for the trade say the ranch can supplement its offer with a “cash bonus” in
addition to land. “It would therefore appear that this transaction is a hybrid of a sale and exchange, though the majority
of this transaction would be a sale,” Lama wrote. “If this is the case, we have serious concerns about the propriety of
the disposition of State Trust Lands in this manner.”

LYONS: Says boundary issues would be solved

EDDIE MOORE/JOURNAL
A White Peak area property would be traded by the Express UU Bar Ranch as part of an exchange for state trust
lands.

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