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A group calling itself the Free Land Holders built a barbed-wire fence around a swath of U.S. Forest Service land, claiming ownership of about 1,400 acres within San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado. Some members of the group have ties to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), a polygamist sect led by Warren Jeffs. Patrick Leroy Pipkin, a member of the Free Land Holders, spoke for the group, stating they have a claim to the land under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the 1814 Treaty of Ghent, the 1783 Treaty of Paris, and the Articles of Confederation.
“The Forest Service don’t own the land,” Pipkin said. “It’s not in their name. It’s just managed by the Forest Service. I don’t think it’s mine. It’s the Free Land Holders Committee who has the jurisdiction and the authority.” Forest Service records show the 1,400 acres in question have been owned by the federal government since 1927.
The fences angered local residents who use the area—known locally as Chicken Creek—for cattle grazing, hunting, and recreation. A large group arrived on Thursday to tear down the fencing. “Our community’s not going to put up with a theft of our public lands,” said Tim Hunter, a Mancos resident who helped remove the fence. “We utilize these public lands a lot. It’s just, it’s uncalled for.”
The Free Land Holder group agreed to pause the installation of new fencing as the land dispute enters into federal court. The Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement informing residents that public hiking, biking, grazing, and hunting are still allowed on the land.
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One key way of stopping further degradation of these lands will be to find ways to protect the livelihoods of the Indigenous people who live on them, recognizing their rights to owning the land and managing it in sustainable ways, rather than resorting to clearcutting, mining, or extracting oil and gas.”
