A lost land grant: Can it be reclaimed? *

How your lawmaker voted: forest land *

Forest Service Aquires S. Cottonwood Land *

Catch-22 Threatens Northern Yellowstone *

Sergeant charged with embezzlement *

Officer pleads innocent *

BLM Testimony 1998 *

Land-trade measure advances in Senate *

CUT Lands *

Greater Yellowstone Coalition press release on Church Universal and Triumphant *

Greater Yellowstone Coalition 1999: Gallatin Land Exchange (cont.) *

Gallatin National Forest Timber Harvest EIS Planned *

The West on the auction block *

Big bucks the ticket to new Montana getaway *

Gallatin National Forest not selling enough timber to complete land swap *

Yellowstone Club executive profiles *

Empower America Board of Directors May 1999 *

Even the Farthest Corners of the Rural West get Aspenized *

Anti-logging bid argued in federal court *

Montana's members only mountain *

Yellowstone club in violation of Clean Water Act *

Big Sky Resort gets a small neighbor [Moonlight Basin] *

Whose mountain is it? *

Who owns Lone Peak? *

Whose peak is it, anyway? *

Rich Americans discovering state's many 'gated' communities *

Timber sale near Gardiner moves ahead *

Private Powder *

Big Sky expands with new resort *

Club pays penalty but opts against EIS *

DEQ questioned about settlement *

Yellowstone Club agrees to record fines *

Exclusive resort fined $1.8 million *

Yellowstone Club developer to pay $1.8 million fine for alleged wetlands violations *

Suit dismissed over land ownership *

Blixseth cleanup deal has some teeth *

Travel club for the rich planned *

Timber tycoon developer now owns chunk of Idaho *

Montana tycoon adds to Idaho acreage *

One Mountain, Undivided *

Site near Cody eyed for exclusive resort *

Democrats miss deadline for filing campaign finance report *

Burns to host fundraiser at club for rich *

Cody ranch eyed for elite resort *

Timber baron offers land swap with state, feds: Idaho Statesman, Apr 11, 2006 *

Tour de France winner sues Yellowstone Club, owner *

Monster Lake to join Yellowstone Club World *

Blixseths Divorce ‘Billionaire Style’ *

Noted valley couple to split *

A billionaire divorce - and not a lawyer in sight *

The World's Most Expensive Home *

Daydreams On Buying The $155 Million Symbol Of Material Excess *

Paradise lost Fortune magazine, February 6, 2008

Billionaire Blixseth Misses $20 Million Payment to LeMond Group Bloomberg, March 12, 2008

 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

by Becky Rumsey, High Country News, October 18, 1993

SAN LUIS, Colorado - On a Monday afternoon in June at the height of the farming season, more than 100 people gathered in the parish hall here. They had come to discuss, in English and in Spanish, the fate of 77,000 acres known these days as the Taylor Ranch. The ranch is one of the largest, privately owned, undeveloped chunks of mountain range left in Colorado. For communities in the southern end of Costilla County, where farmers use the oldest irrigation ditches and water rights in the state, it's the top of the watershed.

And it's for sale.

A private buyer could keep the land as an isolated hunting ranch. A corporation could buy the land to turn its forests into board-feet of lumber, or gold might be discovered. Or it could become subdivisions for second homes, which would dot the slopes of the 14,000-foot Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It is these mountains that separate Costilla County physically - and culturally - from the rest of Colorado.

All scenarios are possible, but what residents at the community meeting said was that they want this land to once again become a commons.

Residents are mostly Hispanic and Catholic, and number just over 3,000. Settlers came up from the south during the last century to live and farm a million-acre Mexican land grant in 1849.

They were the primeros pobladores (first settlers). For their descendants, the Taylor Ranch is still La Sierra, or "the Mountain Tract." They used it for more than a century as a commons for livestock grazing, wood-gathering, hunting and fishing. The commons complemented small private farms, and for many families access to it meant the difference between having to leave and being able to stay in their community.

Three decades ago everything changed. In 1960, Jack Taylor, a lumberman from North Carolina, bought the tract and fenced it. He barricaded roads and assaulted locals caught trespassing. His actions ignited a range war in Costilla County and launched a string of court cases three decades long.

"We took the mountain for granted. People used it all the time, and in 1960 that ended abruptly," says Charlie Jaquez, a high school math teacher whose great-great-grandfather started farming on the Sangre de Cristo grant in 1849.

"All of a sudden it was a major change in the lifestyle of this community. People felt strongly about it, and the legacy of that mountain since has been violence: shooting and pistol-whipping." Jaquez is president of the Land Rights Council, a group that has fought Taylor in court for the last 13 years.

Taylor had gotten the ranch for a song: $500,000, or about $7 an acre. Some say that's because there was what a 1976 New Yorker article called "a little cloud on the title." His deed read:

"... subject to the claims of the local people by prescription or otherwise to rights to pasture, wood and lumber and so-called settlement rights in or upon said land ..."

To Taylor, the claims of common- use rights to his land, which his neighbors had been exercising generation after generation, were simply a result of the failure of the land's previous owners to take charge of their private property. Depending on your point of view, Taylor was more decisive or more aggressive. He went to court to clear his title once and for all.

And he won.

But the people of Costilla County haven't given up, even though Taylor died in 1988. Last April the Land Rights Council's legal action went before the Colorado Supreme Court. It's a case either side could litigate all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In the meantime, Taylor's heirs have been trying to sell the ranch, and this spring word surged through San Luis that an Oregon timber baron was about to buy it. Asking price: $32 million.

While that sale fell through, the prospect of massive logging and mining at the top of their watershed sent the community into a panic. It also breathed new life into hopes for finding another solution for the emotion-laden land.

The current plan involves Ken Salazar, director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, who is a fifth-generation San Luis Valley native. He and Tom Macy of The Conservation Fund went to the San Luis meeting to see if the community would participate in a state-assisted public purchase of the Taylor Ranch. That is, if someone else doesn't buy it first.

As with other land grants, trouble on the Sangre de Cristo didn't begin with Jack Taylor's purchase of La Sierra in 1960. It stems from the collision of one social and legal system with another, and from two different ways of viewing land. From 1650 to 1846, Spain and Mexico made hundreds of grants in the upper Rio Grande River corridor. Yet after U.S. annexation, the courts confirmed only a fraction of them.

New Mexico attorney Malcolm Ebright estimates the United States rejected some 20 million acres - roughly 70-90 percent of legitimate land grant claims processed between 1854 and 1904.

Litigation, legal confusion and bitterness over lost lands are an old story in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. They are an irrevocable part of the regional fabric.

The Taylor Ranch/La Sierra is unusual because its use as a commons survived more than 100 years of U.S. sovereignty. That gives Costilla County the opportunity to create a contemporary landholding scheme that incorporates historic uses.

"I think what we're talking about here is something that's totally unique," said Salazar. "I don't think that the kind of (land) management that we're talking about, that connects up to the culture and the history and the people of the place, exists anywhere in this United States - or anywhere with respect to where land grants have been taken over by government or by private ownership."

It's an appealing scenario. It also won't be easy. Numerous community factions will have to come together with a variety of funding sources. Meanwhile, a consortium of buyers has a purchase option tying up the property through November.

But there's a good chance that deal won't go through, and in Costilla County momentum is rolling towards finding a way to incorporate La Sierra into the nexus of the community again. Given those hopes, as well as the obstacles, Father Pat Valdez appropriately opened the community meeting last June with a prayer:

"Good and loving God," he said, "... We ask you to open our minds, our hearts, our ears ... We pray for your blessings on our ideas and our deliberations. And we pray for the common good of the Mountain Tract ..."

The Taylor Ranch is 120 square miles that include 14,000-foot Culebra Peak. Most of it is in near-wilderness condition. It has timber, water and mineral resources. Some 2,000 elk use it for summer range, and promotional flyers aimed at trophy hunters that grossed the ranch $300,000 last year also describe it as a haven for bears, turkeys, coyotes, bobcats and mountain lions.

A few decades ago it was an isolated spur of the Sangre de Cristos. Today it's just an hour's drive from airports. So in this age of residential and recreation development, the Taylor Ranch seems like a plum. But developers may be deterred by Rael v. Taylor, the case pending in the Colorado Supreme Court.

The namesake of the case, Apolinar Rael, died in July at an age estimated at 95. He was admired for his dedication in defending what he saw as his community's land rights. Many of his peers, the generation that first organized to fight Jack Taylor, have also passed on, but new generations have carried on the fight to preserve a way of life that some have called backward and others have idealized.

It was a life based on irrigated agriculture, seasonal rotations of livestock from river valley bottomlands to mountain meadows, and hunting and fishing to supplement the family larder. People built homes with locally made adobe brick and vigas, log beams cut from nearby forests. Small Catholic parishes sat at the center of the social network. It was a system that proved remarkably resilient in the isolated pockets of the Rio Arriba (upper Rio Grande) region.

"We spent a lot of time up in those mountains because my Dad grazed his sheep up there," said Gloria Maestas, Apolinar Rael's daughter.

"He would remind us of always respecting the next neighbor's rights because they had the same rights we did." Maestas, a retired schoolteacher, remembers going to La Sierra in the 1940s and 1950s with her father and his flock of 200 sheep. For Maestas and her 10 siblings, summer days spent herding and shearing were a holiday from other ranch chores. Meals were a celebration, with barbecued lamb and sourdough bread her father slow-baked in underground pits.

Apolinar Rael and his neighbors grazed their sheep and farmed according to customs that evolved over the course of three centuries - a New World blend of Spanish, Moorish and Pueblo Indian agriculture that their great-grandparents brought north with them.

Charles "Carlos" Beaubien recruited the Sangre de Cristo's pobladores. A French-Canadian fur trapper, he moved to Taos in 1824, becoming a naturalized Mexican citizen. When Mexico awarded the grant in 1843, it stipulated that 200 families must be farming the valley within 12 years. Settlers had to protect themselves against Ute and Navajo raids, so - to entice them - Beaubien had to offer what other grants typically did.

He gave them deeds to private farm tracts laid out in long narrow strips, water rights, and house plots grouped near plazas. According to custom, those private holdings came with rights to use common uplands for grazing, wood-gathering, hunting and fishing.

By 1849, one year after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo turned the region's residents into U.S. citizens, the first permanent settlement on the Sangre de Cristo was established at present day Garcia, Colo. Others followed along the Culebra River, a tributary of the Rio Grande, and its streams: San Luis, San Acacio, San Pablo, San Pedro, Los Fuertes, San Francisco and Chama.

Compared to some Spanish grants which date back to the 1700s, the Sangre de Cristo's history is relatively easy to trace. In 1860, when about 1,700 pobladores were living there, the U.S. Congress confirmed the grant to Beaubien.

Three years later Beaubien sold it to William Gilpin, Colorado's first territorial governor. At the time of the sale, Gilpin is said to have signed a document affirming Beaubien's agreements with the pobladores.

Gilpin, however, had a capitalist agenda and newly instituted taxes to pay. He formed two investment companies to promote the grant's vast lands to Dutch and English immigrants. When he found Hispano settlers already cultivating the best river bottom lands, Gilpin tried to wrest land from them.

In 1871, the Rocky Mountain News published a letter from a community association that had organized to resist him. It warned prospective homesteaders about "a speck of trouble in prospect."

Gilpin's Europeans never came and the southern half, where the Hispano villages were established, was sold twice to Colorado investors. By the time Jack Taylor bought the Mountain Tract, it had had four private owners and 110 years of uninterrupted community use.

Jack Taylor tried to change that. "It traumatized the community," said Land Rights Council board member Maria Valdez. She was 12 years old in 1961, when Gov. McNichols came to pacify an angry crowd in the aftermath of an incident between Jack Taylor and three young men.

Taylor said he'd caught them trying to set fire to a trailer on his property. The men said they'd been searching for a stray cow when Taylor and his hired hands began beating them. Some say Taylor avoided a lynching only because the sheriff kept him in jail for the night. Later, he was convicted of simple assault and fined.

-------

Local residents continued to use the 120 square-mile Mountain Tract. Taylor and his armed guards continued to run them off and confiscate equipment. Then, one night in 1975, a volley of bullets burst through the roof as he was sleeping. One of them shattered his ankle. After that Taylor didn't go back.

"He was pretty upset that he couldn't enjoy his property," said Zachary Taylor, executor of his father's estate. "He couldn't get any law enforcement officials to enforce the law. He was an outsider."

To Apolinar Rael, Jack Taylor was a thief and "no less than a demon," said Maestas. Her father and his contemporaries organized the Asociacion de Derechos Civicos (the Association for Civil Rights) to fight Jack Taylor in court.

When Taylor succeeded in clearing his title in federal court in Denver in 1967, the discouraged asociacion went dormant.

In the mid-1970s, a younger and more sophisticated generation stepped in. New leaders like Land Rights Council co-founder Shirley Romero-Otero did research, raised money from the Catholic Church's Human Development Campaign and published a newsletter called Tierra y Libertad (Land and Liberty). In 1981, they went back to court with Rael v. Taylor.

Romero-Otero credits two factors in the rebirth of Costilla County's land rights movement. One was the encouragement and inspiration of older people like Apolinar Rael. The second was the Chicano movement.

"What the Chicano movement did for my generation is, first we learned our history and we learned to be proud of ourselves ... Your history and your language is the backbone of a people. And the bottom line in the whole Chicano movement was the question of land, because a people without land (is) like a feather in the wind."

When Taylor ringed the Mountain Tract with barbed wire in the 1960s, nearly every family had a few head of sheep or cattle, and used wood to heat their homes. Without mountain resources many sold their farms and left, some bound for city housing projects. To be sure, Costilla County, like the rest of rural America, had been hemorrhaging people since the 1940s, but its losses from 1960 to 1970 accounted for half the outmigration of the entire San Luis Valley. It far exceeded the national norm, said Colorado College anthropology professor Marianne Stoller.

As the years went by, some in the community began to spurn the land rights struggle and its "radical" activists. They decided the courts were right, that as one judge had put it: Events had simply forced the Mexican-American community into the 20th century. Taylor's land was Taylor's land.

"Progress displaces people," said Zachary Taylor. "That's a global problem. It's a Third World problem. Wagon wheels get displaced by automobiles. Everybody gets displaced. Even in Costilla County people don't live off game anymore."

"Basically what we've watched during this time (33 years) is a superimposition of Anglo-American property and jurisprudential system on a communal system brought from Mexico," said Bob Maes, a San Luis native who is now a Denver attorney. To Maes, the case represents the last chance for the old ways to be recognized. He testified as a friend of the court in Rael v. Taylor, representing both the Colorado and National Hispanic Bar associations.

Maes occasionally goes back to his childhood home to paint. "Lately when I go there, I've been focusing on the adobe ruins. There's a life force that's beginning to erode. They seem to be melting back into the ground. It's a real visual indication of a passing way of life."

Rael v. Taylor is a slim legal peg for the heirs of the pobladores to hang their hopes on. At issue is whether Taylor properly notified everybody who had a claim to the land in his 1960 quiet title suit. It has so far lost in two lower state courts and whatever the supreme court decides could still mean years and years of litigation. Symbolically Rael v. Taylor is a banner of community perseverance. Practically it's a bargaining chip for access.

"If we won tomorrow," Land Rights Council attorney Jeff Goldstein told the group gathered in San Luis, "we'd win access to the land: usufructuary rights, common rights for gathering wood, hunting, fishing and grazing. If Beaubien was here today, he would still have the underlying ownership of the land. He could mine it. He could use it for cutting wood. He could exploit it. In the modern day and age, we have to deal with that issue anyway. So there's still a question of management."

For years people have attempted to orchestrate a public purchase of La Sierra, even before Jack Taylor bought it. But since his death, progress seemed more likely. His son Zachary seemed far different, and he'd hired Jim Cockrum, a different kind of ranch manager. The previous manager was murdered at the ranch by his predecessor - a "thug" by local perception.

"I had strict orders to get along with the local people," said Cockrum, a former sheriff. "The P.R.'s been real good since I've been here." Cockrum instituted "woodfests" at the ranch, where local people pay $5 a pick-up load and the proceeds go to Costilla County non-profit groups. He opened up the ranch for camping on the Fourth of July, and increased local grazing leases.

In 1990, Gov. Roy Romer wrote to Zachary Taylor, asking for a meeting in Colorado. The historic meeting between Jack Taylor's son and two grandsons, and Father Pat Valdez and Costilla County commissioners, took place in Alamosa.

"First they asked me to donate it," said Taylor, "and I said I really couldn't do that. Then they suggested I sell it to a non-profit or a public agency. I worried that a public agency wouldn't give me fair market value." Then Taylor got a call from Tom Macy at the Conservation Fund in Boulder, Colo., and a plan for a U.S. Forest Service purchase began to take shape. "He thought, he had ways of raising money and I thought, well, that might be a way to make both sides happy. I thought it would be a blessing if it could happen."

"Zach Taylor made a good faith effort to deal with us," said Macy, whose Western offices transferred 200,000 acres of land into public ownership last year.

"I mean he rolled up his sleeves and he flew out here and met with us and the Forest Service and really tried to make it happen." Macy worked with former Sen. Tim Wirth to request an appropriation from Congress for a $3 million down payment. It failed.

Still another hitch arose. Environmentalists worried about the mining and logging the Forest Service might allow. Others opposed any federal intervention. Costilla County is still smarting from a 1989 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service raid on poachers, which many residents saw as a government attack on poor Hispanics. Taylor especially sensed a lack of support from the Land Rights Council.

"I'm discouraged by the lack of encouragement," Taylor said. "We came so close not to have done anything." Taylor went fishing for a private buyer and snagged Oregon timber speculator Tim Blixseth.

Last May, on what was generally known to be the eve of the sale, a mysterious fire burnt Jack Taylor's A-frame house to the ground. It was the building where, in 1974, bullets were fired through the roof. Some say it was a disgruntled hunter. But it seemed to echo the range war of the not-so-distant past and, for reasons he declined to share, Blixseth didn't buy.

The current state-assisted proposal may stand a better chance. On Sept. 29, Gov. Romer established the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant Commission with representatives from diverse community groups, including the Land Rights Council and state personnel. The commission will have two tasks: to find funding and to craft a community-oriented management plan.

Success depends on pulling together what Macy calls a "daunting" sum of money: $22 million to $32 million.

"If the people continue to support it, I think they'll bring in others," Macy said. "When you see the warmth they have for this land and when you see their dependence upon it, you want to help them. And I think that could spread throughout the state and pull in funding."

Taylor has signed a letter of intent to negotiate with the state of Colorado if his other buyers, a consortium of corporations, fall through by the deadline of Dec. 1. "I don't think any private buyer in his right mind is going to touch this thing," said Macy. "There's so much distress built in because of the history."

"It doesn't matter who comes in here," said Jaquez. "They're going to have to deal with us. We live here."

The Costilla County Conservancy District is exploring options such as floating millions of dollars worth of bonds to purchase the ranch outright or using condemnation powers to acquire it. Maclovio Martinez, four-term district president, supports the state's efforts but worries that politics could make it difficult to carry out.

"Other Coloradans might view it as another kind of welfare, and how much control would the community really have? The conservancy district is the community. It's based on the needs of people out there working with shovels. That's what inspires me and makes me believe we will overcome obstacles - and there are some big obstacles."

Aside from funding, probably the biggest obstacle is that of community cohesion and vision. Like its cousins throughout the rural West, Costilla County is struggling to define its future. The Taylor Ranch, whatever its fate, is likely to have a huge impact on that future, especially since Costilla County has no public lands.

An extractive future for the ranch would bring the community logging and more mining. Battle Mountain Gold's cyanide leaching gold mine lies just four miles from San Luis and employs 85 county residents (HCN, 6/4/90).

Another future promoted by the Costilla County Economic Development Council would boost tourism and recreation. Still another might be more development and land speculation. Already some 30 subdivisions with lots owned mostly by non-residents or recent arrivals make up 70 percent of Costilla County's tax base. While 77,000 acres of public land could restore subsistence grazing, wood-gathering and hunting to the community, it could also make the ranch a magnet for immigrants and tourists. It's hard to tell how compatible such an influx would be with the community's traditions.

Salazar, who grew up on a ranch 20 miles west of San Luis, and Macy hope to work with the commission to craft an acquistion and management partnership that will blend ecological and recreational values with community traditions.

That scheme would exclude mining, extractive logging and subdivisions. If it works, it's likely to be a precedent-setting experiment in land management and cultural preservation. The repercussions could reach well beyond Costilla County.

Becky Rumsey reports and produces public radio documentaries in Boulder, Colorado. Her report is paid for by the High Country News Research Fund.

For more information, contact the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant Commission, 136 State Capitol, Denver CO 80203 (303/866-2471).

###

How your lawmaker voted: forest land. Seattle Times, May 23, 1993, p. A6

Draffan summary: U.S. House passes a bill authorizing acquisition of 80,000 acres north of Yellowstone National Park at a cost of $12 to $20 million; exchanges or cash would be used to acquire the land from a private company [Blixseth, which bought the land from Plum Creek in 1992] that could soon begin harvesting its timber. The land would become part of the Gallatin National Forest. Sponsor of the bill is Pat Williams, D-Mt.

###

The Porcupine land project has finally been completed between the Forest Service and Big Sky Lumber Company. Included in the project is 1,949 acres in South Cottonwood Canyon south of Bozeman, bought by the Forest Service with federal Land and Water Conservation Funds. This area had the top priority in the nation for land use aquisition because of it is critical habitat for bighorn sheep and moose and its wintering range for elk and grizzly bear. The Forest Service has already made a public trail access point at the beginning of Cottonwood Canyon.

from http://www.forestry.umt.edu/itrr/sub/news/nws03-15.htm, citing Belgrade High Country Independent Press March 7, 1996, p.3

###

Yellowstone Action Alert!

Gallatin Land Exchange: Catch-22 Threatens Northern Yellowstone

nfn.tempforest: 618.0

Topic: Land Exchange Nightmare

Written 5:43 PM Oct 21, 1996 by nfn in cdp:nfn.tempforest

From: Native Forest Network <nfn@igc.apc.org>

A massive land exchange involving private inholdings on Southwest Montana's Gallatin National Forest threatens to unravel decades of forest conservation efforts.

ROBBER BARONS ISSUE ULTIMATUM

In the late 19th century, the Northern Pacific Railroad was granted forty million acres of formerly public land, fully 2 per cent of the Lower 48 states! Due to this legacy of Manifest Destiny, over 50,000 acres of private inholdings remain within the Gallatin NF, one of the most wildlife-rich and pristine forests in the US. Many other national forests are plagued with inholdings, but the situation on the Gallatin is especially critical. The current owners of this land are a partnership called Big Sky Lumber (BSL). Based in Portland, Oregon, BSL have subdivided all their land into 20-acre parcels and are threatening to sell it to housing ad resort developers. They have given the Forest Service and the public until October 8, 1997 to come up with a suitable offer to buy or trade for these lands.

SHELL GAME WITH CRITICAL LANDS

The Forest Service, as directed by the 1993 Gallatin Range Consolidation and Protection Act, has already obtained nearly 46,000 acres of BSL inholdings in critical areas of the Gallatin Range. The Gallatin Range contains the largest unprotected roadless area within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), and is home to a large portion of GYE's threatened grizzly bear population.

However, as part of the first round of the Gallatin Land Exchange, roadless public forests in the Bridger Range were traded to BSL, who have since been roading and logging this area, critical habitat for wolverine, mule deer, cutthroat trout and other wildlife. BSL have been logging heavily on other inholdings as well.

Inholdings in the Gallatin, Madison, and Bridger Ranges are currently available for purchase or trade to the the federal government. These include important habitat in the Taylor's Fork, west side of the Gallatins, and North Bridgers.

While the ideal scenario would involve buying BSL's inholdings outright, the Forest Service claims that BSL is unwilling to accept much cash. In addition, federal money available for land purchase is very hard to come by. The primary source of such funds is the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). For 2 years running, buyout of BSL inholdings on the Porcupine drainage of the GNF absorbed the entire nationwide budget of LWCF. Getting more of this money for buyouts on the Gallatin is highly unlikely.

MAKING CLEARCUTS TO BUY CLEARCUTS

The Forest Service, an agency infamous for promoting logging at all costs, has proposed trading approximately 24,000 acres of federal land plus 85 million board feet (mmbf) of public timber (worth $10-15 million at current timber prices) for the 54,000 acres of BSL land available (much of which is roaded and logged already). Up to 50 mmbf would come from the Gallatin, while the rest would come from other eastside national forests in Montana.

On the Gallatin, logging 50 million board feet would require dredging up a nasty potpourri of old timber sales, many of which have been stopped in recent years due to environmental concerns. This would include "salvage" sales which have recently been withdrawn due to public outcry. There is no way the FS can cut 50 mmbf on the Gallatin without logging in roadless areas and in areas already too degraded to meet forest plan standards.

Lands likely to be traded to BSL include the entire western half of the Bangtail Mountains, an area of high recreational value guaranteed to be subdivided for expensive homes if traded away.

BSL GETS THE LOGS, WE GET THE SHAFT

In summary, the public is likely to get shafted in this deal. BSL holds the land; they are under no obligation to anyone and can back out at any time. The Forest Service has a very limited array of public resources to offer them for the land. We the public are being asked to make some very hard choices: Do we give away large quantities of public forests and land to obtain other lands, do we refuse to deal with BSL and take our chances with subdivisions and resorts in critical wildlife habitat; or do we seek a balance in between and risk derailing the process?

SPEAK FOR THE LAND!

-Let the Forest Service and BSL hear from you. Make it clear you are not interested in roading and logging pristine areas of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem for any reason. Tell them you will only support timber sales as part of the land swap if they can meet the Conservationists' Criteria (listed below), and that you would rather see the inholdings bought outright.

-Urge the Forest Service to further investigate the possibility of buying BSL inholdings rather than trading irreplaceable public resources such as land and forests.

-Ask that, if timber sales must proceed as part of the land swap, the FS abide by the Conservationists' timber sale criteria developed by the Bozeman area conservation community.

Write:

Hal Salwasser, Chief Forester

Region 1, US Forest Service

PO Box 7669

Missoula, MT 59807

(406) 329-3511

Bob Denee

Coordinator, Gallatin Land Exchange

Galatin National Forest

PO Box 130

Bozeman, MT 59771

(406) 587-6701

2) Write to BSL (Mel MacDougal, Tim Blixseth) Ask that they help find ways to pay market value for the Gallatin inholdings, and that they accept cash rather than trees or land.

3) Copy your letters to Big Sky Lumber, President Clinton and the NFN:

President Bill Clinton

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Washington, DC 20500

White House Comments Line: (202) 456-1111

Mel MacDougal, Tim Blixseth

Big Sky Lumber

114 SW 2nd

Portland, OR 97209

Written by:

Native Forest Network Yellowstone

PO Box 6151

Bozeman, MT 59771-6151

(406) 586-3885

Conservationists Criteria for Land Swap Timber Sales:

These criteria include:

1. No logging in roadless areas
2. No new roads
3. Timber sales in Grizzly Bear habitat or occupied lands outside the recognized recovery area will adhere to the highest conservation standards
4. Timber harvest will follow Montana State water Quality Standards of Non-Degradation
5. Timber sale areas outside the exchanged land base need to adhere to all ecological Forest Plan standards within the suitable timber base
6. Avoid "controversial" sales such as Hyalite, the Taylor Fork, and North Hebgen.
7. No harvesting of old growth timber
8. All timber sales associated with the exchange must comply with all applicable natural resource laws
9. Future timber sales after the completion of the exchange will be limited to small sales outside of roadless areas.

For a complete copy of the Bozeman Area Conservationists' "Gallatin Completion Statement of Purpose and Criteria" please contact the Native Forest Network.

###

By Tanya Branson, Tahoe World news, December 18, 1997

A 19-year officer of the Placer County Sheriff's Office faces felony charges stemming from an alleged embezzlement of funds from a caretaking job, reported Placer County Sheriff's Capt. Kent Hawthorne.

Sgt. Steve Church was charged Dec. 8 in Placer County Superior Court with a count of theft by false pretenses, attempted theft by false pretenses and grand theft of personal property, according to the Placer County District Attorney's Office. Church is accused of defrauding the Blixseth Group between April 1, 1996 and Oct. 4, 1997.

"It involved some embezzlement of funds from a caretaking job," Hawthorne said. "It was quite a shock."

The caretaking job at a Brockway estate was an off-duty second job unrelated to Church's position with the sheriff's office.

Church resigned from the Placer County Sheriff's Office on Nov. 24, Hawthorne said.

"It's real sad. He's still a very good friend, but he's made some poor choices," he said.

Church was hired by the Placer County Sheriff's Office in 1978, coming from positions in the Monrovia, Calif. Police Department and the Los Angeles County Marshal's Office. He spent his entire career with Placer County working at the Tahoe Substation in Tahoe City, earning the rank of sergeant in the 1980s. At the time of his resignation, he was the patrol sergeant, supervising shifts of patrol officers for the entire North Lake Tahoe area.

An anonymous source called the sheriff's office about the alleged thefts and an investigation began on Oct. 30.

According to an affidavit filed at Tahoe Municipal Court in support of a Nov. 6 search warrant at 9831 North Lake Boulevard, Church's employers in the Blixseth Group suspected Church of wrongdoing concerning his duties as a caretaker for Camp Blixseth, an estate in Brockway.

Church was hired to contract casual labor for the estate, arrange for security, pay employees, maintain the grounds and purchase needed supplies through accounts at local businesses, according to the affidavit filed by David Brose, of the Placer County District Attorney's Office. His salary was $1,300, the court document said. The document did not state whether the figure was a monthly salary.

Routinely, Church would send a fax to the Blixseth Group offices in Portland, Ore. of all employees, vendors and service providers to be paid. Then, the office would send a check to Church. Church would cash the check and then pay the employees and service providers, according to the affidavit.

Tim Blixseth began receiving complaints about Church's behavior from other estate employees in spring 1997 and, on Oct. 3 he terminated Church's employment, replacing him with off-duty sheriff's deputies Rick Wiley and Fred Carey.

The affidavit alleges that on Sept. 30, Church had submitted a payroll sheet for six employees of a wood chipping crew who worked between 48 and 84 hours. The payroll was for $4,320.

However, the full-time gardener and housekeeper of the estate told investigators that they had never seen the names on the payroll sheet and didn't believe that the laborers existed. The affidavit said that a woodchipper was rented, but the estate employees did not think it was ever used.

The affidavit said that documents reveal that Church allegedly has been submitting ficticious names and work hours to the Blixseth Group and allegedly cashing the checks and keeping the money. During the last 12 months, Church received between $6,000 and $10,000 this way from the Blixseth Group, according to the affidavit.

The housekeeper and gardener also said they saw Church take property from the estate such as a wheelbarrow, chainsaw and answering machine. When Church asked the housekeeper to clean his Incline Village home, she saw some items she thought belonged to the Blixseth Group, the affidavit says.

During the search warrant, a toolbox, electrical repair kit, check registers and miscellaneous paperwork were seized.

Church was charged Dec. 8 in court and given a notice to appear for arraignment on Jan. 5 at 8:30 a.m. in Placer County Superior Court in Auburn.

In another case from an Oct. 19 incident, Church was charged with a misdemeanor of computer access fraud.

The District Attorney's Office would not release more detail about the cases.

Hawthorne said if Church is convicted of a felony, he would be prohibited from working in law enforcement again.

###

By Tanya Branson, Tahoe World news, January 15, 1998

Former Placer County Sheriff's Sgt. Steven Church pleaded innocent last week to charges that he stole money and property from his employers at a caretaking position.

His arraignment was held Jan. 5 in Placer County Superior Court, at which he entered a not guilty plea. His next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 20 at 8:30 a.m. for a status conference.

Church resigned Nov. 24 from his 19-year position at the Tahoe substation of the sheriff's department after an investigation was begun into the alleged thefts by false pretenses. According to an affidavit for a search warrant, Church is accused of collecting money from his employers, the Blixseth Group, to pay non-existent workers on a Brockway estate. Instead of paying workers, Church allegedly pocketed the money. Church allegedly purchased items for himself on the Blixseth Group's store accounts and took property from the estate, according to the affidavit.

He is accused of defrauding the Blixseth Group between April 1, 1996 and Oct. 4, 1997.

The affidavit said Church was fired by the Blixseth Group on Oct. 3, 1997 and the sheriff's department began investigating the allegations on Oct. 30.

He was charged Dec. 8, 1997 in Placer County Superior Court with the felony counts of theft by false pretenses, attempted theft by false pretenses and grand theft of personal property.

Church was formerly in charge of the patrol deputies at the sheriff's office in Tahoe. The Brockway caretaking position was an off-duty, second job for Church.

###

Bureau Of Land Management Statement for the Record

H.R. 3381, Gallatin Land Consolidation Act

Before House Committee on Resources Subcommittee on Forest and Forest Health

March 17, 1998

This bill would authorize an exchange of lands among the Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of the Interior, and the Big Sky Lumber Company. The Department of the Interior supports this bill.

The bill directs the Secretary of the Interior to convey to Big Sky, by patent, subject to valid existing rights and to such other terms, conditions, reservations, and exceptions as may be agreed to by the Secretary of the Interior and Big Sky, fee title to approximately 3,000 acres of public land. We provide a correction to this acreage in the Specific Comments of this Statement.

BACKGROUND

The 1993 "Gallatin Range Consolidation and Protection Act" directed the Forest Service (FS) to acquire, by purchase and exchange, the Big Sky Lumber Company lands in the Gallatin Range, Porcupine, Taylor Fork, and Bridger Mountains. Since 1993, two phases of land consolidation have been completed. In the first phase (Gallatin I), the public acquired by exchange about 37,700 acres of Big Sky Lumber Company lands in the Gallatin and Absaroka Ranges. In Gallatin II, the public acquired another 8,100 acres of Big Sky Lumber Company lands. These lands, located in the Porcupine and South Cottonwood areas, were acquired in a partnership among the FS, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and State of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

H.R. 3381 provides for additional acquisition to meet the goals of the Gallatin Land Consolidation Act. The Big Sky Lumber Company is offering about 54,200 acres of their lands for public acquisition in the Gallatin, Taylor Fork, Buck Ridge, Spanish Peaks, Bridger Mountains, and Bangtail Mountains. To complete this acquisition, a mixture of federal assets is proposed for exchange, including about 24,144 acres of National Forest lands and 1,860 acres of public domain administered by the BLM. The FS will make additional compensations, which they can address.

GENERAL COMMENTS

Passage of H.R. 3381 would:

1.Eliminate checkerboard ownership throughout the National Forests of this region;

1. Help conserve healthy ecosystems;

2. Sustain productivity of a variety of resources;

3. Protect critical habitats, including wetlands, winter range and grizzly bear habitat;

4. Enhance recreation opportunities; and,

5. Ensure public access on many roads and trails across private lands.

SPECIFIC COMMENTS

The BLM supports this legislation, but suggest one change to the bill. The acreage figure in the bill under Section 3 Definitions, should be approximately 1,860 acres rather than the 3,000 acres shown. Negotiations are underway to increase the public land acres to 2,500 acres through the mutual agreement of all parties. The current 1,860 acres are the only lands identified to convey as part of this exchange by the Secretary of the Interior.

CONCLUSION

The Department of the Interior supports H.R. 3381, and we believe these actions will serve the public well. We support the Forest Service's efforts to improve public administration of National Forest lands.

###

Associated Press, Billings Gazette, July 31, 1998

BOZEMAN (AP) - Some area homeowners who criticized the proposed land exchange between the government and Big Sky Lumber Co. now say they support the deal.

Endorsement by the Bridger Canyon Property Owners Association came after the group and Big Sky Lumber reached an agreement on logging and other aspects of the exchange. The agreement removes a potential stumbling block in efforts to make the exchange final.

A bill authorizing the swap received unanimous support Wednesday from the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Bill amendments supported by the committee include provisions to preserve public ownership of three key sections of land in the Bangtail Range, to add some land trades in the Paradise Valley and the Taylor Fork drainage, and to incorporate rules on Bangtail logging standards.

The legislation prohibits further timber harvests on Big Sky Lumber land that would become publicly owned through the exchange, according to Montana Sens. Conrad Burns, a Republican, and Max Baucus, a Democrat.

The agreement between Big Sky Lumber and the Bridger Canyon Property Owners Association prohibits logging within 100 yards of private property and spells out measures to protect habitat such as elk calving areas.

The agreement also sets forth restrictions on the density of new housing on some land Big Sky Lumber would control.

The overall exchange would place 53,000 acres of private land in public ownership and give the company 27,000 acres of land now public, much of it in the Bangtail/Battle Ridge area northeast of Bozeman.

The swap has wide support from environmentalists, the timber industry and local government, but some residents of the Bridger Canyon/Bangtail area said they were worried about potential effects there.

Although the property owners association now endorses the swap, the Bangtail/Battle Ridge Coalition, with 1,100 members, remains opposed. The group said its concerns include access to recreation areas, and effects on wildlife habitat.

The Montana congressional delegation has said it hopes to see the bill pass this year.

###

Montana "Representatives" Burns & Hill fail to support $$$ to acquire CUT lands adjacent to Yellowstone!

by Phil Knight, in Buffalo Nations Update on the Yellowstone Basin, November 14, 1998

A large parcel of private land along Yellowstone National Park's northern border is up for sale. Money for its purchase has been allocated from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. However, conservative congressmen bent on budget-cutting and opposed to federal land acquisition are trying to hold up this important purchase, and it could fall into the hands of unscrupulous developers.

The land is owned by the Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT). In the early '80s, the Reagan administration killed public acquisition of the former Forbes Ranch, including this land near Yellowstone, and CUT bought it. Now Oregon land broker wheeler-dealer Tim Blixeth (pronounced Blix-death) is looking to make big bucks by buying this property and developing it. Blixseth made millions buying, logging and selling off Plum Creek's former inholdings in the Gallatin National Forest. Now he is developing an exclusive, rich-people-only ski resort on formerly wild Pioneer Mountain, near Big Sky, Montana.

###

http://hosts2.in-tch.com/www.greateryellowstone.org/happened.html

Government Buys Vital Wildlife Habitat

Yellowstone's Hot Springs and Geysers Also Get Protection

Federal agencies scanned the entire United States this year, making judgements about private land that might be available for public purchase. They identified roughly 7,800 acres adjoining Yellowstone National Park as the most important purchase they could make in the Northern Rockies (and the second most important anywhere in the country) to benefit future generations. Now this important purchase is beginning to happen!

In a crowded news conference in Bozeman today (November 10) various speakers unveiled the first phase of an "exchange, sell, easement" agreement that will bring one of the most important wildlife corridors in America largely into public ownership.

The property is bench land along the Yellowstone River. It rises steeply into side valleys where Mol Heron Creek, Cinnabar Creek, and other tributary streams tumble down to join the Yellowstone. The land is owned by the Church Universal and Triumphant. The Church has owned the land since 1981, when President Reagan nixed a federal purchase of the property. Publisher Malcolm Forbes was the owner at the time. Rejected by Reagan, Forbes sold instead to the Church Universal and Triumphant.

Seventeen years later, there is no mistaking how vital this land is for elk, deer, bighorn sheep, antelope, wolves, grizzly bears, and most dramatically, bison. Bison descend from Yellowstone to this lower elevation land in order to survive harsh winters. But with much of this ramp to survival in private ownership, and with exaggerated fears about bison spreading disease to domestic cattle, there has been an intolerance of the natural migration. Many bison have been slaughtered - sometimes hundreds in a single winter - as they have crossed from the National Park onto private land.

Relief from this tragic state of affairs is now on the way! But only the first half. Please take a moment to read about Phase I, which has been agreed to, and Phase II, which may still need your active support in order to succeed.

Phase I

In the first phase of this land purchase and exchange, the Church Universal and Triumphant is selling to the American people:

* Roughly 2,850 acres of key wildlife habitat just west of the Yellowstone River, between Yankee Jim Canyon and Cinnabar Mountain

* A 151-acre inholding in the Absoraka Beartooth Wilderness

* All geothermal rights. This means no more drilling for hot water-and no more risk to the underground system of cracks and fissures that some experts believe is part of the plumbing for Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Geyser Basin inside Yellowstone National Park.

The purchase is being paid for with $6.5 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. That money comes from big oil companies that pay royalties to the federal government as they drill in the Outer Continental Shelf.

GYC believes the public acquisition of this land near Yellowstone National Park is a great victory for wildlife, geothermal protection and public access. Michael Scott, GYC's Program Director, who worked hard behind the scenes to assist negotiations between the Forest Service, the Church, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, commented at the November 10th news conference:

"Together with the Gallatin II Land Exchange, which also provides enormous benefit to wildlife and to people, this is a huge step forward. As we leave the 20th century and enter the 21st, this is probably the most important gift we could give our children."

Phase II

Negotiations continue now as all parties set their sights on Phase II of the agreement. The goals of Phase II are to:

* Purchase additional Church lands adjoining Yellowstone National Park (approximately 3,000 acres)

* Exchange Forest Service lands for other Church lands to eliminate the checkerboard land ownership pattern that complicates wildlife management and blocks public access (the land for land exchange is approximately 1,000 acres on each side)

* Negotiate the conservation easements that will allow bison to migrate onto church lands, while keeping property damage and killing of bison to an absolute minimum.

Please Help Expand This Victory For Yellowstone's Wildlife!

The outcome of Phase II may be vital to the future of Yellowstone's bison, but an agreement is not guaranteed. The next few weeks are crucial. Key lawmakers need to hear there is strong public support for completing this important purchase and exchange of land. Please take a moment to contact the Members of Congress listed in the column to the left. Ohio's Ralph Regula is on the list because he chairs the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee and has promised funding for the second phase.

Tell these members you want this promise kept - that you support spending an additional $6.5 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to complete a vitally important initiative that right now is only half finished.

But do take time also to celebrate the acquisition that has already been agreed to. Some very special land is coming into public ownership and, with it, comes greater protection for Yellowstone's wildlife and the park's geothermal wonders. This is a great step forward!

Gallatin Land Exchange (cont.)

Like leaves cutting loose in the autumn winds, some of our most immediate fears in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem are dropping away. Serious threats to grizzly bears, elk, moose, fish and public recreation have suddenly been erased across tens of thousands of acres.

By nearly everyone's measure, the passage of Gallatin II is one of the greatest conservation achievements in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem in the past several decades. Not since the expansion of Grand Teton National Park in 1950, has so much private land been added to the public domain.

Under Gallatin II, the government trades roughly 30,000 acres of federal land for almost 55,000 acres of private land owned by Big Sky Lumber. The net gain to the public is about 25,000 acres. Together with the 1993 swap known as Gallatin I, and other purchases in the Porcupine drainage in 1994-96, the net gain in publicly-owned land is about 54,000 acres.

But more important than the total acreage, the public now owns continuous blocks of land. Mostly gone from the Gallatin, Madison, Bridger and Bangtail mountain ranges now...is the crazy checkerboard pattern of public and private ownership. The checkerboard pattern emerged in the decades after the Civil War when Congress sweetened the pot for railroad development into the West by making land grants to the railroad companies of every other square-mile section.

Imagine the difficulty of providing habitat and security for grizzly bears, elk, and moose when there was a constant threat of clearcuts, subdivisions, and "No Trespassing" signs popping up in the midst of wildlands. By expanding public ownership, and consolidating federal lands into unbroken blocks, Gallatin II accomplishes the following:

* Eliminates 400 miles of property lines.

* Brings 133 miles of road and 73 miles of trail into public ownership. This is a major victory for all outdoor enthusiasts, who could never be sure that private landowners wouldn't shut down their favorite trail or road. Access is now a sure thing.

* Helps protect 116 miles of stream.

* Helps protect 184 acres of wetlands.

* Greatly enhances protection of several tributaries to the Gallatin River which will benefit Westslope and Yellowstone cutthroat trout.

Michael Scott, GYC's Program Director, says all Montanans who worked hard for Gallatin II deserve enormous credit. "They have made a wonderful gift to future generations," said Scott. "Gallatin II adds greatly to the legacy of Greater Yellowstone."

GYC played a major role in drafting Gallatin II and in building a consensus for its passage.

###

from http://hosts2.in-tch.com/www.greateryellowstone.org/happened.html, Sept. 28, 1999.

Like leaves cutting loose in the autumn winds, some of our most immediate fears in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem are dropping away. Serious threats to grizzly bears, elk, moose, fish and public recreation have suddenly been erased across tens of thousands of acres.

By nearly everyone's measure, the passage of Gallatin II is one of the greatest conservation achievements in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem in the past several decades. Not since the expansion of Grand Teton National Park in 1950, has so much private land been added to the public domain.

Under Gallatin II, the government trades roughly 30,000 acres of federal land for almost 55,000 acres of private land owned by Big Sky Lumber. The net gain to the public is about 25,000 acres. Together with the 1993 swap known as Gallatin I, and other purchases in the Porcupine drainage in 1994-96, the net gain in publicly-owned land is about 54,000 acres.

But more important than the total acreage, the public now owns continuous blocks of land. Mostly gone from the Gallatin, Madison, Bridger and Bangtail mountain ranges now...is the crazy checkerboard pattern of public and private ownership. The checkerboard pattern emerged in the decades after the Civil War when Congress sweetened the pot for railroad development into the West by making land grants to the railroad companies of every other square-mile section.

Imagine the difficulty of providing habitat and security for grizzly bears, elk, and moose when there was a constant threat of clearcuts, subdivisions, and "No Trespassing" signs popping up in the midst of wildlands. By expanding public ownership, and consolidating federal lands into unbroken blocks, Gallatin II accomplishes the following:

• Eliminates 400 miles of property lines.
• Brings 133 miles of road and 73 miles of trail into public ownership. This is a major victory for all outdoor enthusiasts, who could never be sure that private landowners wouldn't shut down their favorite trail or road. Access is now a sure thing.
• Helps protect 116 miles of stream.
• Helps protect 184 acres of wetlands.
• Greatly enhances protection of several tributaries to the Gallatin River which will benefit Westslope and Yellowstone cutthroat trout.

Michael Scott, GYC's Program Director, says all Montanans who worked hard for Gallatin II deserve enormous credit. "They have made a wonderful gift to future generations," said Scott. "Gallatin II adds greatly to the legacy of Greater Yellowstone."

GYC played a major role in drafting Gallatin II and in building a consensus for its passage.

###

ENS FORESTNEWS, June 21, 1999, http://www.forestworld.com/news/ens/906/fn90621.htm

HELENA, Montana, June 21, 1999 (ENS) - The U.S. Forest Service has declared its intent to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) to disclose the environmental effects of timber harvest, reforestation, and road construction in the vicinity of Trapper Creek, Moonlight Creek, Watkins Creek, Spring Creek, Rumbaugh Creek, Cherry Creek and West Denny Creek drainages - the West Lake Project - located in the South Madison Mountain range, Gallatin National Forest, Hebgen Lake Ranger District, Gallatin County, Montana.

Timber harvest and reforestation is proposed on 1,325 acres of forested land in the West Lake project area. Up to 2.3 miles of new roads are planned.

The West Lake project is one of several projects being proposed on the Gallatin National Forest to contribute timber volume to facilitate acquisition of approximately 54,000 acres of lands currently owned by Big Sky Lumber Company located within the proclamation boundary of the Gallatin National Forest.

These lands are checkerboard inholdings that originate as part of the construction grants given to the Northern Pacific Railway Company by the Federal Government in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Written comments and suggestions should be received on or before July 19, 1999. Contact: Stan Benes, District Ranger, Hebgen Lake Ranger District, Gallatin National Forest, P.O. Box 520, West Yellowstone, Montana 59758. For more information contact: Susan LaMont, EIS Team Leader, Hebgen Lake Ranger District, Gallatin National Forest, Tel: 406-646-7369.

###

By J. Robb Brady, Idaho Falls Post Register

Across the nation, the sound of lawn mowers and the swish of snow skiers is replacing that of logging tractors on private timberlands. That's because timber companies are making big profits selling lavish condominiums and ski resorts.

This switch from cutting trees to developing real estate has a price. It threatens strategic landscapes dear to both wildlife and people.

This trend hasn't affected Idaho, yet. But it's coming. State politicians should get ready.

In this region the first alarm bell was struck when timber baron Tim Blixseth built a posh new ski hill and resort - the very private Yellowstone Club - next to Montana's Big Sky ski area.

You need a net worth of $3 million to join.

Blixseth is the key executive of Big Sky Lumber Co., which bought the huge railroad grant holdings of Plum Creek Lumber Co., on Montana's Gallatin National Forest. Big Sky Lumber owns fully half of the parcels contained within the borders of the Gallatin, north of Yellowstone National Park.

Blixseth is not alone.

Where they can find ski mountain potential, scenic plateaus, streamside or lakeside condominium sites, real estate salesmen will replace loggers.

The timber companies have a lot of land. So their decisions could severely alter the natural landscape.

They're also using their clout to influence what happens on the public lands. Developers have been buying timber company lands in critical areas and then holding the Forest Service hostage to their threatened development.

How did this happen? It goes back to the development of the West. Most of the timberlands now being exploited for their real estate value came to the companies gratuitously through 1864 railroad grants intended for homesteaders. But in 1899 Congress allowed the railroads to exchange for federal land all over the West.

It's up to state officials to safeguard these lands. That's happening in states like Montana, Maine and New York. Working with conservation groups, governors in those states are leading the campaign to acquire private land for public use and protection. They want to preserve public access to the recreational high country and to prevent sub-divisions in strategic areas.

In Montana, this visionary model has concentrated on the Gallatin National Forest for starters. With federal and state money - as well as contributions from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation - Montana already has protected 36,000 acres of important wildlife habitat. Some of it, ironically, is just across the highway from the luxurious Yellowstone Club development along the Gallatin River. A second and more ambitious project, stretching from the Gallatin to the Boulder Mountain range to the north, is nearing completion.

Idaho isn't facing the threat of a real estate boom on its timberlands just yet. But it will happen. Plum Creek is a heavy landowner in northern Idaho, and its actions could affect the headwaters of the Lochsa and St. Joe rivers, as well as forests in the Panhandle.

Besides Plum Creek and Crown Pacific, Boise Cascade and Potlatch Corp., also have significant holdings in the state.

In the next century, Idaho will need to protect these important landscapes from the timber industry. This can be done through purchases, as in Montana, easements or cooperative actions with private land protection organizations. Action is essential if Idaho is to preserve the natural character of the land and keep it open for public use.

But it's up to the state's Legislature and governor to make that happen. They'll need vision and leadership to preserve Idaho's heritage in the next millennium.

###

Associated Press, Billings Gazette, March 1, 1999

BIG SKY (AP) - Just getting a real estate salesman to show you around The Yellowstone Club at Pioneer Mountain requires proof that you're worth $3 million or more.

The development in the works by former lumberman Tim Blixseth is exclusively for the wealthy, and is aimed particularly at the wealthy in search of some privacy.

They're already lining up with checkbooks in hand, said Blixseth, who plans a March lottery to determine who will get first pick of the housing sites at The Yellowstone Club.

It is a residential country club with its own ski mountain, all on 13,300 acres just south of Big Sky.

The cheapest means of entry is the purchase of one of the 100 national memberships, which go for $250,000 plus $16,000 in annual fees. People who want to own an abode on the mountain must dig much deeper.

There are 900-square-foot suites for $500,000. They have no kitchens, but there is valet parking and maid service with fresh sheets every day.

Then there is 3,500-square-foot duplex for $1.2 million to $1.8 million. Vaulted ceilings, decks, marble, ski in and ski out. Log homes are in the same price range.

People who want a few acres around their homes should be prepared to spend up to $5 million. How much they spend on the house is up to them.

In all, Blixseth anticipates 864 dwellings and lots, offered at a total well over $1.5 billion.

The project is taking shape on land that Blixseth and his former partners in Big Sky Lumber Co. bought from Plum Creek Timber Co. in 1992, for less than $200 an acre.

"I think Tim Blixseth is going to hit a home run on this one," said Mike Potter, a Bozeman planner who has worked on the project for years.

Blixseth has sunk millions into the property. There are seven miles of paved road leading to the base of one of three ski lifts, and eight more lifts are planned. Crews have buried more than forty miles of power and communication cable.

And the work is far from complete.

Plans call for a town called Big Springs, with shopping, restaurants and 50,000 square feet of underground parking. Also anticipated are a golf course, an equestrian center, children's camps and a security system run by a retired Secret Service agent listed as "Director of Privacy."

Eighty dwellings for employees are planned by the main gate, miles from the homes of Yellowstone Club members.

Potter predicts that when construction of everything is complete in five years or so, the place will generate $7 million to $8 million a year in tax money for Madison County.

"I'll believe that when I see it," said Madison County Commission Chairman Bill Doggett. Developers make big promises, "but usually it's a long time coming," he said.

The commission is scheduled to vote Monday on Blixseth's master plan, for which the county Planning Board unanimously recommended approval. After that, each phase of the development must receive approval from state and county regulators before deeds may change hands.

Once the master plan is approved, deposits on properties will be accepted, Blixseth said.

"What we're selling is privacy and exclusivity," Blixseth said. "And limited growth."

He said people who bought property 30 years ago in places like Aspen and Vail are overwhelmed by the problems of rampant growth. At The Yellowstone Club, there will be 864 families and no more.

Who will they be?

"We have a long list of household names and a long list of regular people who've gone out and found the American dream," Blixseth said.

###

By Associated Press

http://www.missoulian.com/display/inn_news/news05.txt

BOZEMAN - The Gallatin National Forest could end up about four years or $3.5 million short of being able to complete the final part of the Big Sky Lumber Co. land swaps on time, forest officials have said.

The vast majority of the trade has been completed with the exception of four square-mile sections of private land in the Taylor Fork area - land critical to moose, grizzly bears and elk.

Part of a 1998 law authorizing the land swap called for those sections - owned by Mel McDougal and appraised at $4.5 million - to be purchased with money raised from timber sales on the Gallatin National Forest.

But low timber prices, environmental concerns and complications caused by the Clinton administration's roadless initiative mean the forest has sold just $1 million in timber.

The forest has until late 2003 to generate the full amount. If it can't, Congress authorized the trade of three sections of land in the Bangtail Range northeast of Bozeman for the Taylor Fork property.

The Gallatin National Forest has eleven timber sales in the works, but all have been appealed, said Bob Dennee, lands specialist for the Gallatin and one of the principal engineers of the land swaps.

The Forest Service won each appeal, but a 3 million-board-feet harvest planned near Jardine is the subject of a federal lawsuit.

All sales, existing and projected, will generate only $2.7 million for about 20 million board feet of timber, said Tim Hancock, timber staff officer for the Gallatin. Those sales may not be complete until 2007, Hancock said.

The Lewis and Clark National Forest has promised $795,000, bringing the potential total to $3.6 million, but much of that money may not be available until after the logs are cut, possibly as late as 2007.

Michael Scott, director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, said he'd like to see Congress make up the estimated $1 million difference.

The BSL swaps, formally known as the Gallatin Land Consolidation Act, were authorized by two Congressional actions, the first in 1993 and the second in 1998.

BSL at one time owned property from the Yellowstone National Park border to the northern flanks of the Bridger Mountains, most of it in a checkerboard pattern with national forest land.

The swaps allowed both the national forest and BSL to consolidate their holdings. The first stage traded 38,000 acres of BSL land for 16,000 acres of public land, most of it in the Bridger and Bangtail ranges north of Bozeman. Then the public paid Big Sky Lumber $13 million for 6,180 acres in the Porcupine Drainage in 1995 and 1996.

In the final stage, 54,000 acres of Big Sky Lumber property was to become public and the company gained 27,000 acres, most of it near Bridger Bowl and Big Sky.

###

http://www.theyellowstoneclub.com/exec.html March 20, 1999

Tim Blixseth has risen to success in the very competitive timber business. His first big success was achieved as co-founder of the remarkably successful Crown Pacific Company. In 1990, Mr. Blixseth sold his interest in Crown Pacific and was set to retire when an opportunity to buy over 160,000 acres of breathtaking wilderness in southwest Montana became available. The crown jewel of this Montana property is now known as the Yellowstone Club. Tim's early years as a songwriter and producer instilled a respect for nature, and he is dedicated to keeping the environment within this area unspoiled.

Warren Miller is the most respected ski film producer in the nation. His movies have entertained millions of skiers throughout the world. Mr. Miller brings a wealth of knowledge from the consumer side of the ski industry.

David Marriner was regional vice-president of Taylor Woodrow Homes, a company developing master planned residential communities around the world. His leadership in the design and development of these communities won his team over 16 regional and national awards for design excellence. He was selected as Marketing Director of the year in 1991 for the Southern California Building Industry Association.

For eight years Jon Reveal was the mountain manager of Keystone Ski Resort, and was responsible for many of the ingredients that have made that resort a great success. Mr. Reveal left Keystone to join the management team at Aspen, Snowmass and Buttermilk. His experience in mountain management will be a key element in the development of the Yellowstone Club.

Bruce Bales is a twenty-eight year veteran of the U.S. Secret Service. Bruce finished his career as Special Agent in Charge of Former President Gerald Ford's protection detail. Bruce's career included management level assignments in Washington, D.C., investigative assignments in three different cities, various protective assignments, and as an instructor at the U.S. Secret Service training academy. Bruce holds a BA in Psychology and Sociology and a Master's degree in Criminology and Police Science.

Jack Kemp is co-director of Empower America, a public policy and advocacy organization co-founded in 1993 with William Bennett and Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick. The organization is dedicated to advancing social policies that empower people, not government bureaucracies. Prior to founding Empower America, Mr. Kemp served for four years as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and proved to be one of our nation's most innovative leaders in that role. After 13 years as a professional football quarterback, Jack co-founded the AFL Players Association and was five times elected president of that Association. Mr. Kemp served as a New York representative to the U.S. Congress from 1971 to 1989, and in 1995, Jack served as Chairman of the National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform. In 1996 he received the Republican Party's nomination for Vice President. Jack and his wife Joanne have four children, twelve grandchildren, and currently reside in Bethesda, Maryland.

Annika Sorenstam was a two-time, back to back winner of the LPGA US Open in 1995 and 1996, and in 1997 was the top money winner of the LPGA for the 3rd year in a row. Currently, she is the top money winner for 1998. Her enthusiasm and knowledge of the game of golf will bring strength to the golf program.

Richard Steadman is one of the leading surgeons in sports medicine today. He is co-founder of the Steadman/Hawkins Clinic in Vail Colorado. His innovative medical research has earned him a reputation as one of the world's top surgeons for professional athletes. The Steadman/Hawkins Clinic will be setting up a satellite facility at the Yellowstone Club.

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Founded in 1993 by William J. Bennett, Jack Kemp, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and Vin Weber, Empower America is the most dynamic policy organization in Washington. Through direct action with the media, Congress, federal and state government, other policy organizations, and our membership, Empower America works to fill the policy and leadership vacuum that exists in our nation’s capital and in the country.

Empower America is an advocacy organization whose mission is to steer public policy in favor of individual freedom and opportunity, responsibility and excellence. Uniquely positioned in Washington, Empower America bridges the gap between the array of think tanks that produce white papers on the public policy debate and the actual enactment of policy. In implementing our free-market, entrepreneurial policies into law, we are convinced, through actual experience, that we are the most effective "delivery" system in existence.

Empower America’s efforts revolve around a set of core issues which include education reform, tax reform, national security, technology and social security. In pursuit of our mission, Empower America practices strategic intervention to achieve our goals. Our response to issues, whether reaching out through the media, communicating directly with legislators and political leaders, sponsoring solution-finding or consensus-building forums, or mobilizing public opinion at the grassroots level, is always results-oriented.

William J. Bennett

Jack Kemp

Jeane J. Kirkpatrick

Vin Weber

Thomas W. Weisel, Chairman & CEO, NationsBanc/Montgomery Securities, San Francisco, CA

Nicholas C. Forstmann, Partner, Forstmann Little & Co., New York, NY

Theodore J. Forstmann, Founding Partner, Forstmann Little & Co., New York, NY

Josette Shiner

Tim Blixseth, President, The Blixseth Companies, Rancho Mirage, CA

Joseph A. Cannon, Chairman & CEO, Geneva Steel, Vineyard, UT

Jamie B. Coulter, Chairman & CEO, Coulter Enterprises, Wichita, KS

Joseph G. Fogg, III, President, J.G. Fogg & Company, Inc., Westbury, NY

Newt Gingrich, Former Speaker of the House, Washington, DC

E. Floyd Kvamme, Partner, Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, Menlo Park, CA

Trent Lott, Majority Leader, United States Senate, Washington, DC

Michael Novak, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC

Dennis Prager, Author, radio & talk show host, Ultimate Issues, Los Angeles, CA

Julian H. Robertson, Jr., Chairman, Tiger Management Company, New York, NY

Donald H. Rumsfeld, Former U.S. Secretary of Defense, Chicago, IL

Judy Shelton, Author, Marshall, VA

John Skeen, Senior Managing Director, NationsBanc/Montgomery Securities, San Francisco, CA

Ward W. Woods, President & CEO, Bessemer Securities Corp., New York, NY

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Even the Farthest Corners of the Rural West get 'Aspenized' Summer fires stoke outrage over a gated community in Montana, as tiny towns get millionaire neighbors.

By Todd Wilkinson, Christian Science Monitor, September 7, 2000

BIG SKY, MONT. -- A few years ago, Tim Blixseth set out to build an exclusive, forested hideaway for the rich and famous not far from the northwest corner of Yellowstone National Park.

Offering access to a private ski resort, 16 miles of fishing streams, and priceless views of Yellowstone, the timber-baron-turned-real-estate developer attracted the the likes of former vice-presidential candidate Jack Kemp and Tour de France champion Greg Le Mond.

Membership was set at $250,000, with annual fees of $16,000. Custom homes cost another $5 million.

In Vail, Colo., or Jackson, Wyo., no one would raise an eyebrow over The Yellowstone Club. But this is rural Montana, and to some residents, the club represents a pretentious example of how even remote corners of this friendly state are becoming "Aspenized" -- a derisive colloquial expression that applies to elitist development.

It's a lament heard from Florida to California -- wherever exclusive, gated communities have sprouted on the edges of homespun hamlets. But this summer, as fire threatened to turn the club to ash, the people of nearby Big Sky, Mont., have had to struggle with a question of conscience: Should they reach out to help the neighbors who normally would hold them at arm's length?

"Everybody talks about class warfare in this country and that [The Yellowstone Club] is probably one of the better examples. That it is located in Montana makes it stick out all the more," says Ken Wharton, a retired teacher from Minnesota who used to own a home in Big Sky.

The intent of The Yellowstone Club, which is limited to 900 members and their families, is not to be snobby, Mr. Blixseth has said in the past. (When contacted about this article, his office said he was unavailable for comment.) Rather, the club, which is in the first stages of construction, is intended to be a place where celebrities can enjoy peace and quiet away from the hassles of paparazzi and perpetual hounding.

But the proposed character of the place -- as an isolated, gated community -- and the means by which Blixseth got the prized land have angered many Montanans. After all, some of his property holdings are former public lands that he secured through a land trade.

"It was one of the best bow-hunting places for elk early in the season in the entire state," says Joe Gutkoski, an avid hunter and 32-year veteran of the US Forest Service. "And [there's] none finer habitat for moose."

In recent weeks, the specter of fire has also reopened rifts in the community. As the Beaver Creek fire swept toward Big Sky, some locals were loath to rally behind the cause of saving The Yellowstone Club.

"It's getting to a point where only the rich can afford to own a piece of paradise, but who do they call when trouble appears in the forest? They call us to help rescue them," says Mr. Wharton.

In truth, the US Bureau of Land Management has found itself devoting significant resources to protecting all kinds of homes -- grandiose or modest -- that sit on private property next to federal lands. But there's a growing belief among people here that many newcomers knowingly move deep into forested areas, and they should be getting greater scrutiny from insurance companies, local planning and zoning boards, and firefighting agencies that attack blazes on public lands.

For his part, Blixseth has repeatedly said he wants to make sure The Yellowstone Club is not a drain on the local tax base. He hopes to make it so self-sufficient -- with its own security, fire department, and other services -- that it doesn't cost taxpayers a penny.

He even went so far as to vow that he'd use his bulldozers and backhoes to dig a fire line if the Beaver Creek blaze ever approached Big Sky and the club. The fire died out 20 miles south this week, but his promise won some converts in town.

Indeed, most have sympathy for families and property owners who find themselves in harm's way. Mr. Gutkoski, for one, says the public has an obligation to assist those in need. But he and others are worried that the message from this year's fires might not have gotten across.

"It's a foolish premise to believe that when you surround yourself with forest and place yourself in the middle of forested wild lands, fire will not arrive on your doorstep," he says. "Maybe the Beaver Creek fire got snuffed out by the rain and snow, but next year there might be another fire."

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By James Hagengruber, Billings Gazette, June 6 2001

Effects on wildlife need to be better studied before a timber sale is approved on federal land near Yellowstone National Park, a lawyer for two environmental groups argued Tuesday during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Billings.

Government attorneys said laws were followed and precautions taken before the timber sale was

approved for a 266-acre site near Jardine, about five miles east of Gardiner.

The Darroch-Eagle timber sale is one of 11 planned by the U.S. Forest Service to raise $4.5 million needed to buy important elk and moose habitat in the Taylor Fork area south of Big Sky. The land purchase is part of a massive land swap between the Forest Service and the Big Sky Lumber Co. The swap was authorized by Congress and designed to clear up the checkerboard ownership of land north of Yellowstone National Park.

If the government does not have $4.5 million payment ready by the end of 2003, public lands northeast of Bozeman would likely be traded away to Big Sky Lumber, said U.S. Justice Department Attorney John Almeida.

Bozeman attorney Jory Ruggiero argued that the Forest Service, "Circumvented the laws in order to generate as much money as possible as quickly as possible."

Ruggiero represented the Bear Creek Council and the Native Ecosystem Council in the lawsuit. He said the Forest Service never fully considered the impact the logging would have on grizzly bears near the Jardine area, which are protected by the Endangered Species Act. The logging would also create additional roads, which runs counter to the Gallatin National Forest’s management plan, Ruggiero argued.

The groups do not oppose the land swaps, but would like a better analysis conducted before the timber sales are approved, Ruggiero said.

Government biologists determined the logging would not significantly affect grizzly bears, said Justice Department attorney Mark Stermitz. Although new roads would be carved into the forest, enough existing roads would be closed in the area to mitigate the effects.

"The bottom line here, your honor, is that the Forest Service was cautious is their approach," Stermitz said.

Senior U.S. District Judge Jack Shanstrom said he would issue a ruling "fairly shortly."

Even if Shanstrom allows the timber sales to go forward, there is concern they will not raise enough money to pay for the Taylor Fork land, said Bob Dennee, lands specialist for Gallatin National Forest

The Forest Service hoped to pay for the land by selling 20 million board feet of timber from 11 sites. Logging is now taking place at five or six of the sites, Dennee said. A surplus of Canadian timber has caused prices to drop, meaning additional timber might need to be harvested from other nearby National Forests.

"We’re going to fall short by at least $1 million by the amount needed to acquire those lands," Dennee said.

James Hagengruber can be reached at 657-1232 or at jhagengruber@billingsgazette.com

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An Oregon native is banking on big names and big money to make the Yellowstone Club a mecca for a wealthy elite

By Katy Muldoon, Oregonian, March 18, 2001

PIONEER MOUNTAIN, Mont. Warren Miller thought Tim Blixseth was, to put it kindly, misguided.

Another guy. Another out-there ski resort plan. Another recipe for failure, figured Miller, the legendary filmmaker who for half a century has documented skiing's evolution.

Grudgingly, he agreed to hop in a helicopter with Blixseth, fly to the top of 9,861-foot Pioneer Mountain in southwestern Montana and ski down through the feather-light Rocky Mountain powder.

Presto.

Miller sold his home in Vail, Colo., moved to Big Sky, Mont., and began talking up Blixseth's brainchild: The Yellowstone Club, a private ski mountain and gated residential community for those who love the outdoors, are family oriented, security conscious and fat-of-wallet.

Members must hand over $250,000 to join the club, pay $16,000 a year in dues, buy at least one lot, priced at $650,000 to $2 million, and build a home that keeps up with the Joneses.

About 70 families have joined and when the membership reaches 864, the gates -- guarded by a cadre of former Secret Service agents -- will close behind them.

The winter bonuses: Members and their guests don't pay for lift tickets. They get to ski 2,000 acres -- an area nearly as big as Oregon's Mt. Hood Meadows, serviced by five fast, wind-protected chairlifts. Rather than sharing the slopes with thousands, they won't see more than a couple dozen other skiers on the busiest days.

By the time the ski area is completed later this decade, it will offer 13 or 14 chairlifts and 4,000 acres of skiable terrain, which eclipses Mt. Bachelor and approaches the size of Vail.

The 13,500-acre club already provides hiking and equestrian trails through pristine wilderness, and fly-fishing in some of the nation's most tempting trout streams. Greg LeMond, a three-time Tour de France champion, is the club's director of cycling. By summer 2002, an 18-hole golf course designed by PGA pro Tom Weiskopf will be ready for play.

Construction has started on a main lodge modeled on such grand National Park hotels as the Awahnee in Yosemite. Scheduled to open in autumn 2003, it will be the centerpiece of Big Springs, an old-West-meets-new-boutique town to be built.

The project has prompted cries of elitism and "Aspenization" from some Montanans. Others worry that the development could harm habitat for grizzly bears, wolves, moose, elk, bighorn sheep and the westslope cutthroat trout, a native fish proposed for the endangered species list.

But Blixseth, a 50-year-old native Oregonian who grew up poor and made his fortune trading timber and land, says he intends to be a trustworthy environmental steward, and that the Yellowstone Club is simply a prime example of the fruits of capitalism.

"None of our members," Blixseth said, "would apologize for chasing the American dream -- and for catching it."

Tim Blixseth no longer calls Oregon home. Nine years ago, he and his wife, Edra, left their 32-room Northwest Portland mansion for Rancho Mirage, Calif., near Palm Springs.

With their four children grown and gone, the Blixseths spend their time now working hard at play. They're building not only the Yellowstone Club, but also their warm-weather paradise: a home planted smack in the middle of the private 18-hole golf course they sculpted out of 240 acres of California desert.

Blixseth jokes that "some idiot" designed the course. Him. He thinks he may be the only fellow in the nation with his own full-fledged golf course and ski mountain. He designed the ski runs with Warren Miller's help.

Certainly, he's the only kid from Roseburg with such toys.

The son of a sickly, impoverished minister, Blixseth grew up the youngest of five children in a family dependent on welfare. He told the mill boss at Roseburg Shingle Co. he was 16 years old, so he could get his first wood industry job; in fact, he was only 15.

Eventually, without a college education, he made it to the business side of wood. But the logging road was rocky. He worked as a log trader, survived bankruptcies and defaulted on multiple timber contracts in Oregon's Umpqua National Forest.

In 1988, with Peter Stott, Blixseth founded Crown Pacific Corp. They quickly built the business into a leading timberland owner in Central Oregon. In 1989, the company did $44 million in sales.

"It's a great life today," Blixseth said last week, "but it's been a fingernail-by-fingernail fight."

In 1992, after he had sold his interest in Crown Pacific, Blixseth and partners Mel and Norm McDougal and Charles Holliman, working as Big Sky Lumber, paid $27 million for 164,000 acres of timberland and a sawmill in southwestern Montana.

Blixseth had a foothold in the majestic, mountainous state that today he calls "a mystical place."

He and his partners bought the land from Plum Creek Timber, a corporate descendant of Northern Pacific Railroad, which, in 1864 acquired many thousands of acres in the West from the U.S. government for free. Back then, as Congress tried to encourage Americans to move west, it gave Northern Pacific a checkerboard of land -- every other mile within the right-of-way of new track it planned to lay from the Great Lakes to the Pacific Ocean.

Over the years, the railroad sold much of its land to timber companies. The sections in-between were national forest land.

The checkerboard pattern of public and private land became prime trading stock for timber barons, such as Blixseth, and for the federal government.

Blixseth has nourished alliances in powerful arenas. He is generous contributor to Republican political campaigns. He serves as president of the board of directors of Empower America, a conservative organization run by Jack Kemp, former Republican congressman, 1996 vice presidential candidate and a founding member of the Yellowstone Club. Empower America's mission is to "steer public policy in favor of individual freedom and opportunity."

So Blixseth was not shy on influence when the Congress-approved property swaps known as the Gallatin Land Exchanges took place in 1993 and 1998.

In the trades, Blixseth and Big Sky Lumber gave the government nearly 92,000 acres of environmentally sensitive land near Yellowstone National Park. Big Sky Lumber got more than 45,000 acres in return. About 6,000 of those acres allowed Blixseth to consolidate private and publicly owned lands into what today is his Yellowstone Club.

The mere fact that the exclusive retreat -- its boundaries armed with infrared security cameras to keep intruders out -- sits on land that once belonged to the public irks some residents.

"Montana has been culturally open. The tradition has been that ranchers have lands open for hunting and fishing," said Michael Scott, program director for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, a Bozeman-based group devoted to protecting the area's ecosystem. "When someone comes in and builds a gated community, and one that has the advertised economics of the Yellowstone Club, then people tend to look askance. It's very different than the culture of mainstream Montana."

But the wealthy have long made the state their playground, says Jerry Johnson, a Montana State University political science professor who studies population trends and their social impact.

He recently read a history of Gallatin County, near the Yellowstone Club. At the turn of the last century, he said, wealthy English immigrants ran fox hunts and bred horses there.

Recreation and retirement are Montana's newest commodities. That shift and the wealth it brings bode well for those at the top of the service-based economy: the architects, builders, engineers and financial consultants.

But those in the middle and lower ranges -- from restaurant workers to teachers and firefighters -- have been priced out of markets such as Big Sky, the ski resort village just one mountain away from the Yellowstone Club. Those who can't afford to live where they work, Johnson said, often must rent rather than buy homes. They face long commutes, have less time to spend with their children or be involved in the community.

Environmentalists, too, worry about development's impact on Montana, where snow still lays like a soothing blanket over the rugged landscape.

"People want to live in nice elk habitat," Johnson said, "but they don't think about the elk they're going to displace."

The Yellowstone area -- the northwest corner of the national park sits less than 40 miles from Big Sky and the Yellowstone Club -- supports the longest elk migration in the lower 48 states.

"It's got grizzly bears, elk -- all the major species of wildlife that existed here 200 years ago," said Scott, of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. "But the challenge we've got for the 21st century is to make sure those movement corridors remain intact. As people have discovered this region, pressures are being put on private land . . . ranches are subdivided, houses become barriers to movement. You've lost something. Maybe a herd of elk, or a wolf pack."

Last fall, when he was inspecting the Yellowstone Club site, a fisheries biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks discovered stream channels obliterated by a bulldozer operator building a fairway. In another area, he found westslope cutthroat trout, a native fish whose numbers are dwindling, dying in pools left behind when construction work dried up some 400 feet of streambed.

Blixseth said he fired the worker responsible.

"Tim Blixseth said that he will do whatever it takes to repair the damage and he has put up some money," said Laura Ziemer, Montana director of the Trout Unlimited Western Water Project. "But when we get to actually altering his plans, we find that he's not as flexible."

The Yellowstone Club feels at once mannerly and casual.

The three small log lodges already built, one at the base of Pioneer Mountain, one near the top and one midmountain, next to small cabins where members can ski in and out, look like well-appointed living rooms. Edra Blixseth has done much of the decorating herself, scouring antique stores and estate sales for furniture and art. The Blizsethes' son, Matthew, a Bozeman woodworker, has handcrafted dining tables and bars for the club.

Guests slide into fleece slippers and stretch out on leather couches or sink into luxuriously upholstered chairs. They sip drinks around hearty stone fireplaces or play pool with their children. A pool and hot tub sit perched on a ledge with jaw-dropping views of Lone Mountain, the 11,166-foot snow cone that defines nearby Big Sky ski resort.

Ski guides serve as on-the-slopes concierges. They do everything from help members and guests explore the terrain to make lunch reservations for them or arrange to have the club photographer take their family portrait in the powder.

Family and powder, in fact, are two of the club's top selling points, Blixseth says.

"A family compound," he said, "that's the primary attraction here. . . . It's a low-key, check-your-ego-at-the-gate kind of place."

Unless it's skiing ego, that is. Long, meticulously groomed ski runs are the rule at the Yellowstone Club. One cruiser, called Quarterback Sneak, is named for Kemp, pro quarterback-turned-politico. Another smirks linguistically at the very notion of a private ski hill: It's called EBITDA, as in "earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation or amortization."

The only moguls on the slopes are the moneyed variety; not enough people ski the hills to ever build bumps. Groomers leave some spots untouched for powder hounds. And when a big snowfall drops feet of light snow, it can remain untracked for days.

"For lack of crowds, it's ranked No. 1," said Andrew W. Bigford, editor in chief of Ski magazine, who visited the club last month. "As far as the terrain, I would definitely put it in the top 30 or so -- even higher . . . the powder lasts forever there. Anybody who likes to ski the powder and the steeps would love it."

Warren Miller, 76, who this month began building his new home at the Yellowstone Club, would agree. He has skied there nearly every day since late December, "and I'm not bored," he said.

"I was skiing there recently with a friend I've known since 1949, and he said there's only one four-letter word that describes this place," Miller said. "Envy."

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Environmental News Network, September 25, 2001

Developers of a new exclusive residential resort near Big Sky, Montana were caught abusing state and federal laws Sept. 13. The developers and landowners of the new community must immediately stop releasing sediment into tributaries of the Gallatin River and stop filling nearby wetlands, state and federal officials have ordered.

The parties required to respond to the order are: Tim Blixseth; Yellowstone Mountain Club; Yellowstone Development, LLC; Blixseth Group, Inc.; The Ranches at Yellowstone Club, LLC; and Boyne USA, Inc. They are building the Yellowstone Club, a private recreation community at Pioneer Mountain, a resort area 40 miles north of Yellowstone National Park.

The violations are related to the construction of a golf course, ski runs and roads at the 13,400 acre development. The developers also failed to fully implement stormwater controls required under the federal Clean Water Act and the Montana Water Quality Act, according to a compliance order issued Sept. 13.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality have inspected the site repeatedly, and say the visits revealed several Clean Water Act violations. The Clean Water Act provides for civil penalties up to $27,500 per day, per violation.

Meanwhile, the EPA and the Department of Environmental Quality will seek civil penalties in a separate action.

"EPA is taking this action to protect the Gallatin River, its tributaries and adjacent wetlands from pollution, flow alteration and destruction of fish habitat by soil and sedimentation in the river. This action will also prevent further harm to water quality and fisheries habitat," said John Wardell, EPA Montana Office director.

Blixseth and his partners must implement erosion control measures, delineate the wetlands, perform corrective measures on the ski hill, roads and golf course, and submit a long-term site restoration and monitoring plan. They must also obtain prior written authorization from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for any activity requiring a Corps permit, and comply with all requirements of the stormwater general permit.

The Yellowstone Club is planned to grow to 864 dwellings and lots, offered at a total well over $1.5 billion. Membership in the club is by invitation only. Blixseth told reporters. "What we're selling is privacy and exclusivity. And limited growth," he said.

The Yellowstone Club will have seven ski lifts on four mountains, hiking and biking trails, 16 miles of private fishing streams, a golf course, swimming pool and tennis courts, facilities for riding horses, a health spa and fitness center, a fly fishing lake, remote cabins, private jet service, a chapel. In the process the resort will create a new town called Big Springs.

Other partners in the Yellowstone Club are ski film producer Warren Miller, master planned residential community builder David Marriner, ski resort manager Jon Reveal, U.S. Secret Service veteran Bruce Bales, who will guarantee the members' privacy and security, former football quarterback and congressman Jack Kemp, golf pro Annika Sorenstam, and sports medicine surgeon Richard Steadman.

The Yellowstone Club's website claims that "[Blixseth's] early years as a songwriter and producer instilled a respect for nature, and he is dedicated to keeping the environment within this area unspoiled."

But George Draffan and Janine Blaeloch, in a January 2000 article for the Western Land Exchange Project, point out that, "exclusive private access across national forest land" has been granted to Big Sky Lumber, a joint venture in which Blixseth is partner.

Local activists claim that the area to be developed includes critical grizzly bear habitat. American Wildlands, a Bozeman, Montana group, is heading the petition drive to preserve the Gallatin River by designating it as an Outstanding Water Resource under the Clean Water Act of 1972.

Trout Unlimited and 11 other conservation groups are supporting the petition, along with about 1,400 individuals and 46 businesses, according to American Wildlands.

If approved, the designation would apply from the Yellowstone National Park boundary down to Spanish Creek's confluence with the river, near the mouth of Gallatin Canyon. The designation, never before applied in Montana, would affect activities along the river as well as its tributaries, which stretch a dozen miles east and west of the river, including the Big Sky area and the Pioneer Mountain area where the Yellowstone Club is under construction.

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By Brett French, Billings Gazette, November 20, 2003

BIG SKY - Lone Mountain, long the jagged white symbol of Montana's Big Sky Resort, will soon be shared with another ski area - Moonlight Basin.

Moonlight, located on 11,166-foot Lone Mountain's north slope, is scheduled to open on Thanksgiving Day for its inaugural season. With only four lifts, it can't compete with Big Sky - the largest resort in Montana. But because of its location and the cachet of Lone Mountain, the area is bound to attract many curious visitors in its first year.

"I don't know if it will be an instant big hit," said David Smith, president and CEO of the Bozeman Area Chamber of Commerce. "My first observation would be it makes Big Sky much more of a destination in national and international circles."

He said the Big Sky area, rather than Bozeman, will see more of an initial effect.

Surrounding ski area managers are unsure whether Moonlight Basin will drain skiers from their slopes, although competitive pricing makes it seem likely. However, Rich Hohne, vice president of marketing and sales for Moonlight Basin, prefers to see the ski area as providing greater drawing power for the entire region.

"We are here to bolster the whole area," Hohne said. "We're not a parasite."

With the addition of a new ski resort to the greater Bozeman area, the southwestern Montana college town has become the state's skiing and snowboarding center.

There are now three public ski area's offering over 7,450 acres of skiable terrain within an hour's drive of Gallatin Valley's county seat.

Doug Wales, marketing director of the nonprofit Bridger Bowl ski area north of Bozeman, said that although Moonlight may draw some skiers and snowboarders away, more opportunities for local customers are a good thing.

Rob Ringer, general manager at Red Lodge Mountain, agreed. "I think it's neat to see a new ski area go in. It creates excitement," he said.

"We're hopeful for that outcome," said Dax Schieffer, Big Sky's spokesman.

Moonlight Basin is a wholly owned subsidiary of Moonlight Ranch, the real estate side of the business. In 1992, partners Lee Poole and Joe Vujovich of Ennis bought 25,000 acres in the Jack Creek drainage from Plum Creek Timber Co.

While putting large chunks of land adjacent to the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Area into conservation easements, the partners also began developing homesites and condos next door to Big Sky. Their flagship is a huge 36,000 square-foot log and stone lodge complete with a spa, pool, shops, gourmet restaurant and bar all underneath luxury apartments.

It was long assumed that Big Sky Resort, owned by Boyne U.S.A., and Moonlight would one day join forces. But talks fell through and each has now gone its own way.

"We had prolonged negotiations," Hohne said. "It was more of a timing issue."

Hohne said Moonlight Ranch had always told its customers that the plan was to create a ski-in, ski-out facility - snowriders can glide right up to their condo or cabin.

"The time was right for us to make that terrain expansion," Hohne said. "But it wasn't right for Big Sky to absorb that extra terrain."

That's because Big Sky is in the midst of its own 20-year expansion plan that would provide lodging, parking and services for more than 9,000 people. And Big Sky certainly doesn't need more terrain, it can already brag about its relatively uncrowded 3,600 acres of ski terrain crisscrossed by 150 runs. Spread out over three mountains, the resort has 85 miles of trails.

Hohne said Big Sky's management has been great to deal with in talks about boundaries and ski patrolling, but he said, "It's probably weird for them. This has been a one horse town."

Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Association, said being next to Big Sky could be a boost for both resorts.

"People look for that kind of diversity," Berry said. "Standalone ski areas have always had it more difficult than those that are grouped.

But Big Sky Resort's attitude is to act as if Moonlight Basin doesn't exist.

"We're just really focused on doing the things we do well, and we're not going to be distracted," Schieffer said.

But Hohne said his company thinks there's plenty of room for another player. He said he sees the Bozeman region, one of the fastest growing in the state, as a prime location for the new ski hill.

"We're all living in a burgeoning area," Hohne said. "There are a ton of people coming in. The demographics are looking good to us. We haven't scratched the surface on showing what great country this is."

Chamber President Smith said sports such as skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling - the main reason visitors are attracted to the Bozeman area in winter - undoubtedly have a significant impact on the economy. A 2-year-old University of Montana study Smith quoted showed Gallatin County tourists spending $73 a day. The next closest county, in terms of winter tourist spending, is Yellowstone at $46. Attractive Flathead County, with the second largest ski resort in the state - Big Mountain, pulls in only $19 a day from winter tourists.

"That tells you how relevant skiing is," Smith said, as well as snowboarding, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing.

Smith said if you take Big Sky out of the equation, Gallatin County's numbers would be similar to Flathead's.

Nationwide, the ski industry has seen three solid years despite the Sept. 11, 2001, bombing of New York City's World Trade Center and the war in Iraq. Last year set a new record, according to the National Ski Areas Association's annual report, logging 57.6 million skier/snowboarder visits.

The association attributes the increase to new ski technology - which makes skiing easier to learn for beginners and easier to perform for aging baby boomers - as well as ski areas' determination to broaden their appeal to younger users, many of which are snowboarders. That has meant the creation of terrain parks just for boarders on many mountains.

The industry is also focusing more on mountain services, emphasizing the social side of skiing and creating more family opportunities, the report said.

These attributes, long the lifeblood of smaller resorts, is why they have seen their market share increase by more than 17 percent over the past four years, compared to a more than 45 percent drop in market share at the largest resorts.

Hohne said Moonlight Basin doesn't mind being small with a focus on service.

"We're never going to be Vail, we'll never have those numbers," he said. "But we're OK with that.

"We're trying to come out of the blocks representing that Montana sense of hospitality," Hohne said. "We want to get people to come back."

Related story

* Moonlight Basin ski area scheduled to open for first season on Thanksgiving Day http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=2&display=rednews/2003/11/20/build/outdoors/30-moonlightbasin.inc

Moonlight Basin http://www.moonlightbasin.com

Brett French can be reached at french@billingsgazette.com or at 657-1387.

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By SCOTT McMILLION, Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Jan 2, 2004

Developer Tim Blixseth is suing the U.S. Forest Service, claiming the topmost point of Lone Peak, the landmark centerpiece of the Big Sky area, belongs to him and not to another resort.

The complicated dispute involves less than 20 acres, but it's a special patch of rock and ice. The icy summit could support a ski lift, Blixseth said, and that could be worth a fortune to whoever owns it.

The dispute involves some of the biggest players in Big Sky's ever escalating real estate market: Blixseth, owner of the members-only Yellowstone Mountain Club; the Boyne Corporation, which owns Big Sky Ski and Summer Resort; and Moonlight Basin, Montana's newest ski resort.

Blixseth's suit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Billings, maintains the Forest Service promised the property to him as part of the Big Sky Lumber land swaps, authorized by two acts of Congress, the latest in 1998.

However, the Forest Service at the same time was making a land trade deal with Moonlight Basin owners Lee Poole and Joe Vujovich. Moonlight now has a deed to the land.

"It's our property," Poole said Tuesday. "We own it right now."

Blixseth was working with the Gallatin National Forest, headquartered in Bozeman, while Moonlight was working with the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest, headquartered in Dillon, with a key office in Ennis.

"The Forest Service screwed up," Blixseth said in a Tuesday interview.

"I don't know how they got crosswise," Poole said.

Blixseth vowed to take the case "to the highest court available."

The value of a tram to the tip-top of the mountain -- Big Sky's existing tram goes almost all the way -- lies in the fact that it affects real estate prices.

Blixseth said he already owns property near the summit and building a lift there would let him advertise 4,000 feet of vertical drop for his private resort, where membership is limited to millionaires only. Big Sky advertises 4,350 feet of vertical drop.

He said building a tram could add about $200,000 in value to each of the 725 lots he still has for sale at the Yellowstone Club, totaling over $140 million in increased real estate value.

Blixseth also confirmed that he has been trying to buy the Big Sky resort, as has been rumored for months.

Owning the top of the mountain could be a critical component for whomever eventually owns Big Sky, or for anybody who wants to compete with Big Sky, he said.

The closest obvious competitor is Moonlight Basin, which just opened this winter, with new lifts and runs on the north side of Lone Peak. Building a tram to the summit from that side would open up lots of new territory.

Blixseth said he has no dispute with Moonlight Basin.

"I have nothing against the Moonlight group," he said. "My quarrel is not with them."

But he is seeking land to which Moonlight holds the deed, according to his lawsuit.

"The only remedy which will fully compensate (Blixseth) is the deeding of the Lone Mountain property" to him, the suit says.

Poole said the parcel is important to his company's plans as well.

"It's key to our operations. No two ways about it," Poole said. "That's why we went after it. Not too many people get to own the very tip top of a mountain, and right now, we own it."

At the request of the Beaverhead Deerlodge forest, Moonlight bought some old mining property in the Gravelly Range, then traded it for the top of the mountain, Poole said. That deal took 2.5 years to work out, he said, and was completed a few years ago.

Bob Dennee, lands specialist for the Gallatin, said Tuesday that the acreage in dispute is quite small.

And the whole matter is complicated by imprecise legal descriptions of the land, combined with boundary issues between the two forests and along the Lee Metcalf Wilderness area, a corner of which stretches almost to the top of Lone Peak.

The deal with Moonlight transferred about 20 acres to that company. However, the deed described the land in "aliquot parts," which is a verbal description and not a precise land survey.

The transfer mistakenly included parts of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness area. It also included part of the Gallatin forest. Moonlight has agreed to an amended deed that gives the wilderness land back to the government.

The boundaries for Beaverhead Deerlodge, the Gallatin and the wilderness area all converge near the top of the 11,166 foot mountain.

Blixseth's suit says the property was promised to him in the 1998 law, in exchange for Big Sky Lumber land the government obtained. Blixseth was a partner in BSL, which has since been disbanded.

Dennee maintained that Blixseth was only promised the land in that area which is in the Gallatin, not any land in the Beaverhead Deerlodge. Dennee said the Gallatin land amounts to 0.16 acres.

Blixseth's suit says he was promised roughly 20 acres on top of the mountain after completing a survey at his expense. He spent $42,000 surveying the land, but the Forest Service gave the land to Moonlight.

Dennee said representatives of the government, Blixseth and Moonlight have been meeting for some time, trying to work out a deal, "obviously, without success."

Now it's up to a court to decide.

"Eventually, it will be resolved," Dennee said.

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by Chris Bradford, Snow Journal, January 2, 2004

http://www.snowjournal.com/page.php?cid=doc713

BOZEMAN, Montana -- Developer Tim Blixseth is suing the U.S. Forest Service, claiming the topmost point of Lone Peak belongs to him. Lone Peak is shared among Yellowstone Mountain Club, Big Sky and the new Moonlight Basin.

The complicated suit involves a 20-acre rocky parcel at the summit of Lone Peak. Tim Blixseth, owner of the private Yellowstone Mountain Club, claims that the Forest Service promised the property to him as part of the Big Sky Lumber land swaps, authorized by two acts of Congress (1998).

The US Forest Service recently deeded the 20-acre parcel to Moonlight Basin owners Lee Poole and Joe Vujovich as part of the new ski development.

"It's our property," Poole, said Tuesday. "We own it right now."

Blixseth told local reporters that the rocky summit could support a ski lift and it could be worth a fortune to whoever owns it.

"Owning the top of the mountain could be a critical component for whomever eventually owns Big Sky or wants to compete with Big Sky", he said. "The Forest Service screwed up".

It is known, at least in the local area, that Blixseth has been interested in purchasing Big Sky Resort for several years.

Complicating the matter are imprecise legal descriptions of the land, combined with boundary issues between the Beaverhead-Deerlodge and the Gallatin National forests, and along the Lee Metcalf Wilderness area.

The suit was filed last week at the U.S.District Court in Billings.

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Vail Trail Resort Roundup, Jan 16, 2004

http://www.vailtrail.com/newsdetail.cfm?NewsID=1745

Tim Blixseth, owner of the exclusive Yellowstone Mountain Club ski resort in Montana, is suing the U.S. Forest Service over ownership of Lone Peak, according to the Snow Journal. Three areas operate on the flanks of the peak; the Yellowstone Club, Big Sky, and a public resort on private land, the new Moonlight Basin.

According to the Snow Journal, the complicated legal battle involves a rocky 20-acre parcel at the top of the mountain that Blixseth claims was promised to him by the Forest Service as part of a congressionally authorized 1998 land swap. But the federal agency recently deeded the land to the owners of the new Moonlight Basin resort.

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By ALLISON FARRELL

Billings Gazette, January 19, 2004

BIG SKY - This ain't your grandmother's log cabin. There's no cranky woodstove to stoke. No generator to spark. And the guns hanging on the glossy log walls are for decoration only.

A bottle of French wine waits on the counter of the galley kitchen, right next to the Starbucks coffee.

In this cabin, white linens hang in the softly lit bathroom. The mammoth bed, layered with soft fabrics and velvet calicos, faces a floor-to-ceiling stone hearth that radiates warmth even when the fire's out.

An old-fashioned wall sign advertises a "Blue Plate Special" for 35 cents.

But nothing here costs 35 cents. In fact, this two-story cabin with its wrap-around deck didn't exist back when meals were 35 cents.

This cabin costs more like $250 a night for invited guests only. And if you want to stay "on property" longer, if you want to return to this new Montana, you better be a multimillionaire.

This is the only gated ski and golf community in Montana. This is the Yellowstone Club in Big Sky.

New way of life There was a time when the words "Montana log cabin" meant two rooms, homemade bunk beds and midnight trips to the outhouse. But times have changed.

In 1990, Montana had 276 houses worth $300,000 or more. By 2000, that figure had climbed to 4,735, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And that was the year the Census Bureau added a new category of homes in Montana - those costing $1 million or more.

As of 2000, there were 324 million-dollar homes in Montana, a number that exceeds the total number of $300,000-plus houses in Montana in 1990.

It's easy to see that number is rising.

People from elsewhere and everywhere - many baby boomers and new-money families - are flocking to Montana from metropolitan areas.

They want to escape busy lives and crowded resorts, said Hank Kashiwa, vice president of marketing at the Yellowstone Club.

"In general, people like Montana," Kashiwa said. "It's quiet. The people are so nice and friendly."

But some of these Montana newcomers are bringing a bit of the city with them - their gates.

Walls, fences, gates Gated communities, now common in more populated areas of the United States, have finally sprung up in Montana.

More gated communities dot Montana's verdant valleys and mountain foothills. There's the Yellowstone Club. There's Whitefish Hills on the west side of the city. The laid-back Stock Farm outside Hamilton, with it's semi-open gate policy, caters to more relaxed wealth.

At least two more gated communities have sprouted in Big Sky, and another is planned for Whitefish. Developers are pushing the Silver Bow Club on the Big Hole River.

Gated retreats can even be found around Seeley Lake and Nye in Stillwater County.

Theories abound as to why people want to live behind gates. Big Sky locals warming bar stools at the Corral