SAN LUIS * Residents of this rural San Luis Valley community, who have been fighting for decades for access to a mountain landscape guaranteed to their ancestors, celebrated a significant victory Tuesday.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis visited San Luis to sign into law a bill that gives local governments authority to regulate large fences on private property, legislation that was launched when Texas billionaire William Harrison constructed an 8.5-foot barbed wire fence across more than 20 miles of his massive Cielo Vista Ranch.
Tuesday felt more like a community celebration than a bill-signing ceremony, with more than 100 people gathering on a weekday afternoon. Many of them were descendants of Hispanic settlers who were guaranteed access to the area known to them as "La Sierra" for livestock grazing, firewood cutting and their water sources.
It's a cherished landscape of hills, valleys and mountains that was the subject of a 42-year-long legal battle, after a lumberman bought it in 1960 and cut off locals' access. In 2002 the state Supreme Court ruled 5,000 descendants of settlers could have access for grazing and firewood collecting.
"This is a very unique property, with Supreme Court-confirmed rights for the families for all-year visitation," said Polis. "So in many ways the owner is more a steward and a trustee of the land. They have certain privileges with that but those privileges do not include being able to fence off that land."
Harrison, the heir to a Texas oil fortune who bought the 83,000-acre ranch in 2017, told neighbors he was putting up a fence to keep his bison herd in. But at such a height, with wire all the way to the ground so even the smallest rabbits can't cross, residents observed it becoming a major problem for wildlife migrations. Residents said the landowner compromised and built some livestock jump spots, but far fewer than the one per 1,000 yards recommended by wildlife managers.
The ranch advertises itself as "among the finest elk, deer, and sheep hunting properties in the world." Guided trips run in the thousands of dollars.
And then came trespassing citations for residents trying to move their livestock to exercise their historic grazing rights. Harrison has said he is honoring the land grant by providing nine gates residents can use to enter the property, but residents complain they needed advance permission.
Harrison has also argued that the fence is intended to keep out trespassers who have entered his private property.
After clamor from residents, in 2022 Costilla County cited the ranch for land-use violations and the next year put a moratorium on all fences over 5 feet high. The landowner sued the county and, say residents, ignored the moratorium, continuing to put up the fence. By the time the courts intervened, more than 20 miles of fence had been built, in some cases walling in residents on three sides.
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"The current owner has been engaged in the practice of building fences and barriers that have made your access much less convenient," Polis told the audience. "The fence has also hurt the people of Colorado, because it has hurt a state asset, our wildlife. It has hurt the animals' ability to access their normal habitat."
The new law gives county commissioners responsibility for determining whether the benefits of a fence outweigh the harms. The law requires landowners to apply to local government officials before constructing a fence in the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant area that is more than 5-feet high.
"This will enable other counties to protect themselves from the destructive obscene displays of wealth that the ultra-wealthy who are purchasing large mountain tracts in Colorado can engage in in order to separate themselves in their private sanctuaries from the regular people," said San Luis resident Joseph Quintana.
The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Matthew Martinez, a Democrat who represents San Luis Valley, doesn't address the fence already built. That is the subject of ongoing litigation between Harrison and Costilla County.
"One step at a time," said Polis when asked about the already-built fences. "Today we're making sure the counties have the appropriate authority to prevent this kind of fencing that stands in the way of legal access and hurts the wildlife of our state."
Some of the Republicans who voted against the bill, including Sen. Byron Pelton of Sterling, raised concerns about the bill's impacts on private property rights.
San Luis resident Bernadette Lucero, one of the leading opposition voices, said she hopes wildlife studies will determine the fence is an unlawful barrier to animal movement and the courts will force Harrison to tear it down and build a "normal fence."
"It's a partial victory. He has a plan to put 60 miles of fence. He's put up 27 miles. From now on if he wants to fence it he has to comply with the new law," said Lucero.
"It ain't over yet," Polis told the crowd. "Keep fighting. And the day will come when people will no longer have to fight."