Click the link to read the article on the Summit Daily website (Ryan Spencer). Here’s an excerpt:
June 8, 2024
The restoration work is proposed along a section of the Blue River near its confluence with the Colorado River in Kremmling
If a land exchange in Summit and Grand counties is completed, this ¾ mile stretch of the river could be Rosgen’s next project. The Bureau of Land Management approved the Blue Valley of Land Exchange last year. After dismissing public protests against the exchange last month, the federal bureau is now queuing up the final steps required to complete the land swap. The land exchange between the federal government and Blue Valley Ranch, which is owned by billionaire Paul Tudor Jones II, has been decades in the making. It was first proposed in some form in 2001 with the stated purpose of addressing the “checkerboard nature” of ownership in the area.
As part of the deal, the federal government would convey nine parcels totaling 1,489 acres to Blue Valley Ranch, while the ranch would transfer nine parcels of private land totaling 1,830 acres to public ownership. Blue Valley Ranch has also agreed to provide Summit County with $600,000 for new open space acquisitions as well as to construct a seasonal takeout and rest stop near the Spring Creek River Bridge and another rest stop 3 miles downstream. But Rosgen said what makes the land exchange a “win-win,” in his eyes, is Blue Valley Ranch’s commitment to cover the costs of river restoration work on that ¾ mile stretch, and the creation of the Confluence Recreation Area, which would have more than 2 miles of new walking trails and offer wheel-chair accessible fishing.