For more than a year I’ve been tracking the largest proposed seizure of private property by the federal government in modern history: the Battle for Pinon Canyon. It pits ranchers in southeast Colorado against an opponent that’s not used to losing ground wars: the U.S. Army. 

The stakes are high. The U.S. Army’s Fort Carson, which is based more than 100 miles away in Colorado Springs, wants more than 420,000 acres - that’s more than 600 square miles of land currently in private hands - to expand an existing training ground known as the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site (PCMS). The U.S. Army already has 20 million acres of training grounds, but it says it has to have the land in Pinon Canyon.

Local ranchers, meanwhile, are refusing to give in, and they say they won’t just lose the land the Army wants but their entire way of life. The military’s land grab will disrupt their way of life, disturb neighboring ranches, cut some ranches off entirely, and decimate the economy of nearby ranching communities such as Trinidad.

Over the next several weeks, The Land Report will examine events unfolding in this epic, sometimes tragic struggle that pits some of the most traditional, red-state landowners against one of the few institutions of government they have an undying respect for but which they have vowed to fight to the bitter end.

Make no mistake: what happens in Pinon Canyon is something that affects landowners everywhere. The Land Report will be tracking this story every step of the way.

Silver was first discovered in the Big Bend region of Far West Texas in the 1880s and mined at La Mina Grande in Presidio County from 1883 until 1942. More than 35 million ounces were produced. This area of the Lone Star State is home to some of the largest ranching empires in the country, and includes several Land Report 100ers: Brad Kelley, Jeff Bezos, and Clayton Williams, among others. The recent and sustained increase in the price of silver led Aurcana, a Canadian mining company, to pay $43 million to Silver Standard Resources to acquire the flooded mine, which it plans to reopen in 2010. Annual production estimates of 3.2 million ounces per year are forecast. More to come.

There’s an old saying: “It’s not news until it runs in the Times.” Thanks to this story, natural gas has officially become America’s energy darling.

Huge shales beds that have been long overlooked are now or will soon generate enormous incomes for producers, taxing entities, and of course landowners. Not only are black or brown shales found in 23 states, but the energy they produce, or more specifically, their emissions, are cleaner than either coal or oil. This is a development that will effect tens of thousands of landowners in all sections of the country, and the writer details the possibilities in an effective, enjoyable read. (Full disclosure: I have been writing for The Times since 1996.)

Q:

A: I feel the first step in any phase of timber management is to have an inventory of the property by a reputable graduate forester. This is accomplished by measuring all trees on a number of sample plots or points that would give an estimate of the entire property population within a given statistical accuracy.

From this inventory, current market values can be used to calculate the present timber value as well as making management recommendations and project possible future returns on the investment along with being able to set your basis for tax purposes. This inventory could range from a simple verification of any timber data you received during the purchasing of the property to a complete inventory of the property on stand level basis.

The number of sample plots or points needed for the complete inventory would be dependent on the type and age of timber being inventoried and the variability within the various stands or timber types.

Rodney Schroeder

Most everyone is familiar with the “private residence club” or “destination club” concept, where membership offers access to a portfolio of luxurious private homes in a variety of locations. People like belonging to a destination club because it has the benefits of vacation home ownership, but with more flexibility and choice as to where you can travel.

But imagine instead of a vacation home with golf, beach and tennis, you enjoy access to a collection of the most stunning sporting destinations on the planet for rod and gun enthusiasts — African safaris, trophy New Zealand red stag, plantation-style Georgia quail hunting, Argentina dove shooting, bonefishing in the Bahamas, Guatemala bill fishing and so much more.

Well, that’s exactly what you get with the Presnell Sporting Collection; an unparalleled range of sporting destinations with the utmost services and amenities to ensure that your every need and desire are met on every trip.

According to Kevin Presnell, founder and chairman of Presnell Companies, “It’s not just about hunting and fishing. It’s about the entire experience, from seamlessly making the reservations to returning home after expectations have been exceeded, knowing that everything imaginable and more has been taken care of for you. We stand behind every aspect of each adventure with the Presnell Guarantee of Excellence.”

For more information, visit www.presnellsportingcollection.com

BY TREY GARRISON
PUBLISHED JUNE 2008

At its heart, Bonanza was a series about an American landowner, Ben Cartwright, who ranched 1,000 square miles of the richest timberland and grass country in the Nevada Territory. (Ben also sired three sons by three different wives, each of whom met suspiciously tragic ends, but let’s not go there.) Ben’s love of the land was evident from the first episode. More important, the insights and advice he gave his three sons are applicable to all landowners and worth their weight in silver.

Respect the land. In an early 1959 episode—keep in mind this was way before conservation became cool—the Cartwrights are shown cutting down a Ponderosa pine that Ben reckons is more than 400 years old. As they finish the job, Ben directs the boys to plant a new sapling. One out, one in—conservation’s golden rule.

Know your sheriff. For some reason, Virginia City seemed to attract more ingenious murderers than Dick Wolf could ever squeeze on Law & Order. Consequently, the Cartwright boys spent more time cooling their heels in jail than the Dallas Cowboys lineup in the mid-1990s. They were always innocent, and Sheriff Roy Coffee typically released them to Ben’s custody, which allowed the Cartwrights to capture the real killers. Even back then, Ben knew that it’s always better to get to know the locals before you need their help.

Never give an inch. When Samuel Clemens (a.k.a. Mark Twain) comes to Virginia City, he discovers a local judge conspiring with a robber baron to seize some prime timberland on the Ponderosa. The Cartwrights first fight with guns and then do battle at the ballot box, triumphing in part thanks to Clemens’ wit. Ben knew if he let the railroad set a precedent, developers with local politicians in their pockets would use eminent domain to carve up the Ponderosa like a Christmas goose.

Stewardship pays. Ben knew how to profit from his holdings and regularly leased timber rights. But woe unto hydraulic miners. Ben and his fellow ranchers fought bitterly to keep those scalawags from scarring their lands. Ben loved making money, but not by ruining the land.

Know your neighbors. At least once or twice a season, some gringo would ride into the territory and stir up the Paiutes. Invariably, the angry Indians would go on the warpath. Was it the cavalry or Hoss that kept the Ponderosa safe? No, it was Ben’s good relations with his Paiute neighbors. Talking over the fence every now and then pays big dividends when a bad wind blows.

It’s rare television magic that can engage a kiddie cowboy on a stick horse and still offer lessons that hold true decades later. You could do worse than channeling your inner Cartwright now and again. And if Ben is right, you can’t do much better than finding your own Ponderosa.

Taylor Hicks has got a problem. It’s got nothing to do with the task at hand—his New York stage debut as “Teen Angel” in Tthe current revival of Grease on Broadway at the Brooks
Atkinson Theatre—and everything to do with his jam-packed schedule.

The winner of the fifth season of American Idol, Hicks rocketed to the top of the charts with his single “Do I Make You Proud,” which debuted at the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was certified gold. His major label debut Taylor Hicks started out at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 charts and made it all the way to platinum. Now he’s arrived on the Great White Way, where I tracked him down on his cell phone just prior to stepping into a rehearsal for the popular musical.

And the man’s problem? He’s hit the big time, and that means he’s got next to no free time to head home and kick back on a special piece of property he’s bought in the Heart of Dixie.

Long before the Soul Patrol helped catapult Hicks to the top of the charts, he spent many a year doing hard time, learning the ropes and working his way from gig to gig throughout the Southeast. In big cities and small towns, he not only created his own signature style, but he fell in love with a stretch of country along the largest body of water in Alabama-Guntersville Lake.

At 69,000 acres, the man-made lake was created decades ago by the Tennessee Valley Authority when it walled off a 75-mile stretch of the Tennessee River from the Guntersville Dam to Nickajack Dam. The resulting lake is an integral element in the navigation channel that spans the length of the Tennessee River from its headwaters in eastern Tennessee, into Alabama, back into Tennessee, and ultimately merging with the Ohio at Paducah, Kentucky. There’s also one other attribute to the lake.

“It’s gorgeous,” says Hicks.

Like every Alabaman, Hicks grew up hearing about Lake Guntersville, but it took a college buddy to really show him the lay of the land.

“After we got out of Auburn, I used to book Taylor in here at The Docks, and of course nobody showed up,” says Mark Hall, who owns the popular restaurant on the shores of the lake. “Now that he’s won American Idol, I can’t afford him, and everyone keeps asking me when he’s coming back,” he adds, breaking into laughter.

Back at Auburn, the two were stuck in the same rut. “I was a broke chef, and he was a broke musician,” says Hall. “He was playing gigs, and I was studying hotel and restaurant management. We’d get together with all our friends at wherever we were living. I’d cook for everyone, and he’d put on the show.”

After college, Hall returned to his picturesque hometown of Scottsboro, the county seat of Jackson County, site of a hefty portion of Lake Guntersville. The City of Scottsboro owns an amazing facility on the lake called Goose Pond Colony, which as Hall quickly points out has two 18-hole golf courses, a fullservice marina, swimming pool, and of course The Docks, the kind of place where a group of business types might be closing a deal at one table, and right next door a family of four just got off the water. Hall insists on free live music every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Throw in some of the best large-mouth bass fishing in the South, and it only took a couple of trips to Lake Guntersville for it to become a favorite for Hicks.

“It’s a special place. I’ve got plenty of friends that I’ve had relationships with over the years just playing, performing for folks up there. It will always be a special place inmy heart. The bass fishing on Lake Guntersville, it’s just awesome. I love the lake,” he says.

So much so that the year after he became America’s Idol and vaulted to the top of the charts, Hicks ended up buying an amazing piece of property on Goose Pond Island at a lakeside community called The Oaks. Not surprisingly, he made sure it came with all the extras he needed: two marinas, a boat launch, clubhouse, gated access, and, most importantly, unbelievable views.

“I’m looking down over the water. I’m looking down and across it. You’re on the water, you’re close to it, you have a slip for it. And there’s so much to do on the water. It’s just a great
lake to be on,” he says. The only catch, as Hicks readily admits, is that given the demands of his hectic schedule, he only makes it up to Goose Pond Island just once or twice a year.

“Right now, the phone is ringing off the hook,” he says, as our easy-going conversation begins to wind down. “So I’m having to straddle and perform and do records and Broadway, but when things settle down, you’ll definitely see me on that lake, that’s for sure.”

download: Alabama Land Values (98.05KB) description: 2007 Report on Alabama Land Values

Here are the high points:

In 1970, buyers were paying on average $200 per acre for Alabama farmland. In 2007, the average price per acre was $3,100, a 1,450% increase over the period or 40.3% per year. This figure covers a substantial timeframe, but it does offer insight into the underlying market conditions inherent throughout much of the state.

Farming and agriculture have long been key drivers buoying rural land values in Alabama. Numerous additional factors have pushed up demand, including the recent stretch of historically low interest rates and the popularity of 1031 Exchanges. And then there are Alabamans themselves. These people love to hunt. They love to fish. They love to get out on the land and out on the water. Residents of Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery, and Huntsville are excellent examples of urban dollars propelling the market for rural and recreational land to even higher levels.

This is particularly the case in the area of Northern Alabama around Huntsville and Lake Guntersville where Taylor Hicks bought. In addition to Birmingham, it draws investors, retirees, and vacation-home buyers from a multi-state area a short drive away, including Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville, Memphis, and Jackson.

Take a look at a map of the state. The distance from the Gulf Coast to the rolling hills along Alabama’s northern border is well over 300 miles, a key factor for those uninterested in boarding their condos and heading for high ground during hurricane season. “Halfbacks” – Northerners who relocated to Florida but have since grown disenchanted, don’t return all the way home. Instead, they move half the way back. Two of the more popular destinations for this growing breed are the mountainous terrain around Asheville, N.C., and Northern Alabama.

Huntsville is Northern Alabama’s largest city. It has become a haven for outside investment and has a burgeoning federal payroll. The Redstone Arsenal, NASA’s Space Flight Center, and the nation’s second-largest research park have led to an influx of goodpaying jobs that employ a well-educated work force. The region also has one of the highest concentrations of engineers and Ph.Ds in the country.

One topic not discussed in the Auburn report was Alabama’s attractive tax climate. According to the state’s department of revenue, Alabama ranks 48th among all states in per capita taxation, a substantial enticement for retirees and those considering retirement in the near future.

Although Adrian and Prevatt, the authors of the Auburn report, wisely opted not to gaze into the crystal ball and offer their predictions on future trends in land values, a great deal can be discerned by reviewing the annual returns on rural land in Alabama during the three years that preceded the report’s publication: 30 percent in 2005, 15 percent in 2006, and 13 percent in 2007.