La Lucha por La Sierra | Scion of Texas Oil Barons Seeks to Overturn Historic Use Rights to the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant

Horno and La Sierra Common. On the horizon (L) is snow-covered 14,047 ft. high Culebra Peak, the heart of the 1844 Sangre de Cristo Land Grant and source of water for the famous acequia irrigated farms in the valley bellow.

Photo courtesy of Devon G. Peña.

Historic 2002
Colorado Supreme Court Ruling in Lobato v. Taylor is Under Appeal

30 YEAR-OLD
SON OF TEXAS OIL BARONS SEEKS TO END LEGALLY ESTABLISHED USE RIGHTS OF MEXICAN LAND
GRANT HEIRS

Moderator’s Note: We are posting without further
commentary or analysis a press release from the Land Rights Council
(LRC) of San Luis, Colorado. On September 5, 2018, the LRC will have to defend common property use rights,
yet again, before the Colorado Court of Appeals in Denver.  On September 5, after the
court hearing before the Colorado Court of Appeals we will report on the hearing and initiate a serious analysis of
the briefs filed before the court. 

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE LAND RIGHTS
COUNCIL

Historic Lobato v.
Taylor Land Grant

Ruling Heading Back to Court

SAN LUIS,
CO (August 28, 2018). In 2002, in a historic ruling in the Lobato v. Taylor land rights case, the Colorado Supreme Court
settled a decades-long legal struggle by the heirs of the 1844 Sangre de Cristo
Land Grant. The 80,000-acre parcel is known locally as La Sierra (the Mountain
Tract). It is vital to the Culebra River acequia villages in Costilla County which
rely on these access rights to sustain a robust and sustainable local agricultural
economy. The ruling restored to the heirs and successors of the land grant
rights to gather firewood and construction materials and to graze livestock. In
2005, more than 350 families received keys for access to the land grant and the
exercise of these rights.

On Sept. 5,
2018, the San Luis Land Rights Council (LRC) and its supporters will have to
return to the courts to defend these rights yet again. Shirley M. Romero Otero,
the President of the LRC, expressed the view that the ability of the heirs to
use La Sierra remains a vital part of the economic stability and cultural
survival of a unique farming community that is the living heart of the Sangre
de Cristo National Heritage Area. The
scheduled September 5 hearing is before the Colorado Court of Appeals in
Denver.

The latest
legal round was triggered by the new private owner of La Sierra (a.k.a. Cielo
Vista Ranch), William Bruce Harrison, the scion of a wealthy Texas family with
billions in oil wealth. Harrison is the fourth owner of the grant since the
2002 ruling. Prior owners included the disgraced head of the now defunct Enron
Energy Services, Lou Pai. In the mid 1990s, then Colorado Governor Roy Romer established
the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant Commission to try and resolve the dispute
through a buy-out that would have converted the land into a state park and
wildlife management area. The deal collapsed when Zachary Taylor, Jr. rejected
an offer for $21 million in 1997. Harrison acquired ownership in February 2018
for a reported $105 million. The LRC has always opposed state ownership and
emphasizes litigation to restore historic land use rights.

Apolinar Rael. Photo courtesy of Juan Espinoza

and Colorado Heritage Magazine (March-April 2015).

Established
in 1978, the LRC was inspired by a legacy of local resistance led by the late
Apolinar Rael during the 1960s land grant movement. In 1981, the LRC filed a
class-action lawsuit against Jack T. Taylor, the North Carolina timber baron
who acquired the grant in 1960. Taylor eventually lost because in 1960 he had
promptly sued to keep the locals out but violated due process and equal
protection standards when filing a quiet title action. Taylor and the lower
courts failed to inform the majority of the land grant heirs, denying them
their day in court to challenge Taylor’s quiet title action. The LRC sought to
re-establish long-held community use rights to La Sierra, which the people were
legally entitled to as confirmed under Mexican and U.S. law. The grant was
patented by an act of Congress on June 21, 1860. After more than 37 years of
court battles, the Culebra acequia village communities regained access rights
when the Colorado Supreme Court issued its historic ruling in Lobato v. Taylor [71 P.3d 938 (2002)] on
June 24, 2002.

The pursuit
of land speculation by wealthy outsiders has led to the sale and re-sale of the
land grant over the years. In this environment, it has proved difficult for the
heirs to develop and implement a co-management plan to protect these rights and
sustain a healthy ecosystem that makes exercise of these rights possible. Ms.
Romero observes: “There have been four different owners over the past sixteen
years since our rights were restored. How can we develop a plan when the
private speculative parties keep changing? We now have an owner who wants to strip
us of our rights. It is hard to negotiate a management plan with a hostile
party. The fact that the land grant is constantly subject to speculation has
made it difficult for the community to adopt and implement a co-management
plan.”

Ms. Romero
further noted: “Instead of trying to undermine established law and precedent,
Mr. Harrison should work with us to take care of the mountain and restore the
forests from damage caused by excessive logging operations by the Taylor family.
We’ve taken care of that mountain for more than 150 years and that is why the
wealthy speculators are drawn here. Our knowledge of the ecology of La Sierra
is the only thing that has sustained this watershed. Mr. Harrison should work
with us to protect the source of our heritage and livelihoods instead of attacking
legally established rights.” Ms. Romero describes a recent meeting with the
thirty-year old Harrison: “He claims that he is a conservationist but told us
during a recent meeting [with the LRC] that he purchased the mountain because
he ‘needs a place to play.’”

Dr. Devon
G. Peña, a local farmer and President of The Acequia Institute and former
officer with the Sangre de Cristo Acequia Association, observes: “For the local
acequia farmers who are land grant heirs, some of the most important rights
tied to La Sierra are the oldest water rights in the state of Colorado. That
mountain is our watershed and protecting the forest is vital to the survival of
the oldest family farms in the state, especially in a time of climate change.
It is astounding that we have a newcomer speculator who ignores legal precedent
and the rights of the local people to continue sustainable use. The community
has been a good protector of the land grant despite abuses by an ever-shifting
cast of rich men seeking a prestigious playground. We advocate for a
co-management plan that focuses on creating jobs for local people to work
restoring the ecosystem of La Sierra that was so badly damaged by decades of excessive
logging by private land speculators with no ties to the community.”

For more information contact: Shirley M. Romero, President, Land
Rights Council. Email: shirleymromero@yahoo.com.
Phone: 970-640-8014. Devon G. Peña, Ph.D., President, The Acequia Institute.
Email: devonpena@gmail.com.