Opinion ID: 891708
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Four Challenged Exchanges

Text: {11} In this case, the Attorney General seeks to cancel or prohibit four separate land exchanges, each with a private party: the Stanley Ranch exchange, the UU Bar exchange, the CS Ranch Bar exchange, and the Galloway exchange. Each exchange involves state trust lands situated in the White Peak area of Mora or Colfax counties. Combined, the exchanges would transfer 14,600 acres of state trust land, at an appraised value of $22,500,000, for approximately 9,560 acres of private land at an appraised value of $23,200,000. {12} Only the Stanley Ranch exchange has been fully consummated with title passing from the state to the Stanley Ranch. The state has deeded fourteen parcels of land ranging in size from 40 to 1,727 acres, with a total of 7,205.75 acres, valued at $6,356,000. In exchange, the state has received from the Stanley Ranch multiple parcels of land, totaling 3,336.221 acres appraised at $6,413,000. The Stanley Ranch began the exchange process by submitting an Initial Application to the State Land Office [2] on October 11, 2007. The application specified parcels of state trust land that the Stanley Ranch sought to acquire through an exchange. {13} The State Land Office agreed to proceed with the transaction on June 5, 2008, eight months after the initial application, on the condition that certain lands be added to and removed from the proposed exchange. Accordingly, Stanley Ranch completed an amended application on August 5, 2008, and submitted it to the State Land Office. On September 8, 2009, almost two years after the initial application, the State Land Office issued a Notice of Public Auction for Exchange of Land by Sealed Bid detailing the land sought by the Stanley Ranch. The notice was published for ten weeks, from September 18 through November 19, 2009. Stanley Ranch submitted the only bid on November 19, 2009, more than two years after its initial application, which was accepted on November 30, 2009. On January 7, 2010, the State Land Office executed an Exchange Patent, conveying the specified state trust lands to the Stanley Ranch. The State received the specified lands from the Stanley Ranch, and the transaction was closed. {14} The UU Bar Ranch exchange, not yet completed, involves three parcels of state trust land located in Mora and Colfax counties, ranging in size from 120 to 1,721 acres, totaling 3,431.34 acres and valued at $2,3 81,000. The Land Commissioner has agreed to transfer this land in exchange for 3,610.19 acres of the UU Bar Ranch property, also in Mora and Colfax counties, valued at $2,383,000. The UU Bar Ranch initiated the exchange on March 5, 2008, submitting an Initial Application for land exchange to the State Land Office. Over six months later, on October 1, 2008, the State Land Office informed the UU Bar Ranch that it would proceed with the land exchange process and requested further information from the UU Bar Ranch. {15} On September 15, 2009, the Land Commissioner issued a Notice of Public Auction for Exchange of Land by Sealed Bid, offering for auction the 3,431.34 acres of state trust land already agreed upon for exchange with the UU Bar Ranch. Notice was published for ten weeks, starting October 1, 2009. The UU Bar Ranch submitted the only bid on December 8, 2009, over a year and a half after its initial application, and was notified of its acceptance on December 17, 2009. For the moment, the State Land Office retains title to these state trust lands. {16} The CS Ranch and Galloway exchanges have been in negotiation with the State Land Office, but have not yet proceeded to public notice. CS Ranch initiated its proposed exchange by submitting an Initial Application on April 9, 2008. The State Land Office responded on July 8, 2008, calling for further investigation into the exchange proposal and reporting that it had advised staff to proceed with the exchange process. Until the Petition was filed in this case, appraisals and appraisal reviews of the targeted state trust lands were under way, and the State Land Office and CS Ranch were negotiating the details of the exchange. {17} Under the most recent terms of the exchange, the Land Commissioner contemplates conveying approximately 166 acres of state trust land in Colfax County valued at $734,000; 3,630 acres in Santa Fe County valued at $9,935,000; and 40 acres in Bernalillo County valued at $2,250,000. In return, CS Ranch is offering 2,600 acres of its land in Colfax County valued at $13,480,000. The proposed exchange has been described by the State Land Office as part of the White's Peak Consolidation Strategy and the second of four (4) proposed exchanges, focusing on consolidation and access. When the Attorney General's petition was filed on February 1, 2010, almost twenty-two months had passed since the initial CS Ranch application was filed with the State Land Office. {18} Finally, the Galloway exchange is the fourth, and smallest, of the four exchanges. It would transfer 160 acres of state trust lands in Colfax County valued at $840,000, in exchange for approximately 110 acres of Galloway land in Colfax County valued at $951,500. On July 10, 2008, William Galloway submitted an Initial Application for exchange of public lands. Two months prior to his Initial Application, Galloway proposed an exchange with the Land Commissioner, declaring his interest in establish[ing] a dialog/consideration process for swapping certain deeded land, and promoting the exchange as a way to improve land management and public access. {19} On August 28, 2008, the State Land Office sent Galloway a letter indicating that further investigation of the suggested exchange [was] warranted and that the Land Commissioner had advised staff to proceed with the exchange process. On June 18, 2009, Galloway submitted an UPDATED Initial Application, indicating that the state trust lands he desired were the CS Ranch 160 acre tract . . . (part of the global swap occurring). Galloway further explained that his interest in the land exchange was [p]art of the global swap happening with many local owners and state of NM. The Galloway exchange had not yet been advertised when, more than eighteen months after Galloway's Initial Application, the Attorney General filed a petition requesting that this Court stay the exchange. {20} On February 1, 2010, the Attorney General filed a Petition for Writ of Mandamus challenging the Land Commissioner's authority to conduct the four exchanges described above. The next day, we granted the Attorney General's request to stay all transactions pending a resolution of the dispute.