A remote and rugged piece of federal land in the Laramie Range mountains is a paradise for hunters, and the U.S. Forest Service should keep it, critics of a pending land exchange said.
“It’s kind of a little hidden oasis,” Curt Artery of Wheatland told Cowboy State Daily.
He was referencing 1,297 acres in the Green Mountain area. It’s near Laramie Peak in Albany County and also adjacent to his family’s property.
The pending Britania land exchange would swap that for 804 acres in two parcels owned by the Broe Group, a private investment company based in Denver. One of those parcels farther north at the base of the Laramie Range, is also in Albany County. The other is in Carbon County.
Artery and others have criticized the exchange as a bad deal for hunters and the public.
The land the Forest Service would get “doesn’t have half the wildlife” that the section up for exchange does, he said.
But the proposed exchange would increase public access on the parcels that the Forest Service would get, as well as access on adjoining federal land, Aaron Voos, spokesman for the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, told Cowboy State Daily.
During a public comment period last year, feedback regarding the Britania land exchange was mostly positive, he said.
Pristine Land
The 1,300 acres on Green Mountain doesn’t sound like much, but that land is adjacent to other federal parcels that would be cut off from public access if the exchange goes through, Artery said.
His family and other adjacent landowners allow public access there but won’t be able to if the exchange goes through, he said.
It’s prime elk and bighorn sheep habitat – remote, rugged and accessible only by foot or horseback.
“To go up there, it’s a young man’s game. I don’t know if I’d want to pack an elk out of there on my back,” he said. “We need land like that, which is pristine, but not designated wilderness.”
Detractors of the land exchange also argue that cutting of access there will hamper hunters and trim ballooning elk herds in the area, many of which are well above Wyoming Game and Fish population objectives.
And it could hurt the local economy, said Lemae Higgs, whose family also owns adjacent property.
“It will certainly not be to the benefit of the local economy and local hunters if his deal goes through,” she wrote in an email to Cowboy State Daily.
The rugged and remote Green Mountain area in the Laramie Range in Albany County is prized for its elk and bighorn sheep hunting. (Courtesy Brian Artery) 
Some are upset that the Forest Service is preparing to trade off the rugged Green Mountain area in the Laramie Range in Albany County. The rugged and remote Green Mountain area in the Laramie Range in Albany County is prized for its elk and bighorn sheep hunting. (Courtesy Brian Artery) 
The rugged and remote Green Mountain area in the Laramie Range in Albany County is prized for its elk and bighorn sheep hunting. The proposed Britania Land Exchange would trade rugged Forest Service Land in Albany for two parchels farther to the north. (Bureau of Land Management) 
The rugged and remote Green Mountain area in the Laramie Range in Albany County is prized for its elk and bighorn sheep hunting. The proposed Britania Land Exchange would trade rugged Forest Service Land in Albany for two parchels farther to the north. (Bureau of Land Management)
Almost A Go
Higgs, Artery and other critics claim that the Forest Service didn’t give adequate notice last year of when the public comment period would take place regarding the exchange.
Artery said that to his knowledge, a notice of the comment period was published in only one of the region’s numerous newspapers.
Voos countered, saying standard, legal protocol for land exchanges was followed, including a 30-day public comment period, which took place April 8 to May 8, 2023.
“Landowners in the vicinity of the exchange, nongovernmental organizations, county commissioners, legislators and State agencies were notified about the exchange proposal and provided the opportunity to comment,” he wrote in an email to Cowboy State Daily.
“No substantive comments were received, but some concerns that were raised by the public have been addressed within the decision document. The comments were relative to public access, big game wildlife habitat and equal values of the exchange parcels,” he added.
Land exchanges are complicated, typically with a “64-step process,” Voos said.
The Britania land exchange has been through many of those steps, he said.
A notice of decision from the Forest Service, expected to be in favor of the exchange, might be issued this month or in November.
That won’t make the deal final, but it will signal that the agency intends to move forward with the exchange, he said.
Contact Mark Heinz at mark@cowboystatedaily.com
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
