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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Balderas

DATE TYPED 3/10/05

HB 760

SHORT TITLE White Peak Area Land Purchase

SB

ANALYST Aguilar

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

FY05

FY06

$15,000.0

Nonrecurring General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

REVENUE

Estimated Revenue

Subsequent

Years Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

NFI

Indeterminate Recurring State Lands Main-

tenance Fund

NFI

Indeterminate Recurring Land Grant Perma-

nent Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

Duplicates SB 24

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Commissioner of Public Lands (SLO)

Department of Game & Fish (DGF)

Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 760 appropriates $15 million from the General Fund to the State Land Office for ex-

penditure in FY05 and FY06 for the purchase of the Stanley Ranch in the White Peak area in

Mora and Colfax counties, contingent on a purchase agreement between the State Land Office

House Bill 760 -- Page 2

and the owner of the land. Any unencumbered balance would revert to the General Fund at the

end of FY06.

Significant Issues

The White Peak area has a long history of conflict between private landowners and local mem-

bers of the public who have used the area for hunting, firewood gathering and other outdoor ac-

tivities for several generations. Consolidation of the land into a continuous block of state land

could reduce conflicts between hunters and landowners and provide additional land for recrea-

tional opportunity on state lands that could include hunting, fishing, hiking, wildlife watching

and wood gathering depending on how the state land office administered the land.

The State Forestry Division notes this bill would result in the acquisition of approximately

12,000 acres of primarily forested land in the northeastern portion of the state that provides ex-

ceptional qualities for forest, watershed and wildlife habitat. This property occurs on the east-

slope of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the Mora/Colfax County line north of the town of

Ocate. The landowner also leases the adjacent 26,000 acres of State Trust Land. This project

would protect important watershed, critical wildlife habitat, and productive timber resources

from subdivision and conversion to recreational homes and other development. These collec-

tively make a large block of undeveloped land that could be maintained for forest values that

could benefit the land and those that enjoy its use.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $15.000.0 contained in this bill is a nonrecurring expense to the general

fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2006 shall

revert to the general fund.

PA/lg