Colorado land board agrees to sell 46,000 acres in San Luis Valley, despite worries about federal policy

Colorado will sell nearly 46,000 acres of pristine wilderness it has held since statehood in a deal long sought by communities in the San Luis Valley — despite worries voiced by State Land Board commissioners Thursday about the future of federal public land management.

The board, in a 4-1 vote, approved the $49.6-million sale of the La Jara State Trust Land property in Conejos County, with most of it going to the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management and the rest to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

The State Land Board owns 2.8 million acres of land in Colorado and manages it to earn money for the state’s public school system. It began considering selling the La Jara property in 2017 because it was not generating enough revenue.

After nearly a decade of work, the deal to sel