mick silver
10th January 2015, 09:55 AM
http://aliciapatterson.org/stories/secret-land-swaps-taxpayers-help-finance ... Her family’s first well dried up and the water level continues to drop in the new one, leaving Terri Brunsman quite concerned about the area’s water supply if the Prescott National Forest trades this piece of land next to her Clarkdale, Ariz. home to Fred Ruskin and it is developed.http://aliciapatterson.org/sites/default/files/styles/node_image/public/Olsen09_0.jpg
The Town of Camp Verde wants to preserve this area as open space if it’s part of the 2,200 acres of Interstate 17 frontage the Prescott National Forest trades to Yavapai Ranch Limited Partnership. Ranch owner Fred Ruskin says he might give the 500 acres to the town in return for higher-density zoning on the rest of the property.
http://aliciapatterson.org/sites/default/files/styles/node_image/public/Olsen07_0.jpg
http://aliciapatterson.org/sites/default/files/styles/node_image/public/Olsen08_0.jpg
Camp Verde Town Councilman Tony Gioia says this Prescott National Forest land, bordering an Interstate 17 interchange, isn’t the appropriate place for a shopping mall and other development that will occur if the property is traded for land elsewhere in Arizona. Gioia contends there isn’t sufficient water to supply the hundreds of acres of private land already poised for development. But a recent Town Council election puts him in the minority among Camp Verde’s elected leaders.
http://aliciapatterson.org/sites/default/files/styles/node_image/public/Olsen06_0.jpg
Illegal dumping is just one of the management headaches the Prescott National Forest cites to justify trading this parcel near Clarkdale, Ariz. to a private developer as part of the Northern Arizona National Forest Land Exchange. The land also is too close to rapidly growing towns to remain part of the Prescott Forest, Forest Service officials say. If traded, Ruskin plans to subdivide the land into estate-size home lots.
http://aliciapatterson.org/sites/default/files/styles/node_image/public/Olsen05_0.jpg
Seven years and $1 million after he initiated the Northern Arizona National Forest Land Exchange with the Prescott National Forest, ranch owner Fred Ruskin hopes he is close to getting a bill through Congress mandating the trade. "If I had know it would take this long and cost this much money, I never would have done it," Ruskin says. "I would have subdivided the ranch."
http://aliciapatterson.org/sites/default/files/styles/node_image/public/Olsen02_0.jpg
Map Credit: Barry Nichols
http://aliciapatterson.org/sites/default/files/styles/node_image/public/Olsen03_0.jpg
Map Credit: Barry Nichols
http://aliciapatterson.org/sites/default/files/styles/node_image/public/Olsen04_0.jpg
If the Northern Arizona National Forest Land Exchange is approved by Congress, Fred Ruskin's family will end up owning about 21,000 acres of land around this ranch headquarters. Under the terms of the legislation introduced in the Senate this spring, Ruskin keeps the best water wells and distribution pipelines on nearby land he is trading to the Prescott National Forest, giving him the means to supply a possible future subdivision here.
http://aliciapatterson.org/sites/default/files/styles/node_image/public/Olsen01_0.jpg
Rancher, developer and physician Fred Ruskin stands on Gobbler Knob, in the Prescott National Forest in northern Ariz. His family owns some of the acreage in the background and wants to trade it to the U.S. Forest Service for valuable development land elsewhere in the state as part of the Northern Arizona National Forest Land Exchange.
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The Town of Camp Verde wants to preserve this area as open space if it’s part of the 2,200 acres of Interstate 17 frontage the Prescott National Forest trades to Yavapai Ranch Limited Partnership. Ranch owner Fred Ruskin says he might give the 500 acres to the town in return for higher-density zoning on the rest of the property.
http://aliciapatterson.org/sites/default/files/styles/node_image/public/Olsen07_0.jpg
http://aliciapatterson.org/sites/default/files/styles/node_image/public/Olsen08_0.jpg
Camp Verde Town Councilman Tony Gioia says this Prescott National Forest land, bordering an Interstate 17 interchange, isn’t the appropriate place for a shopping mall and other development that will occur if the property is traded for land elsewhere in Arizona. Gioia contends there isn’t sufficient water to supply the hundreds of acres of private land already poised for development. But a recent Town Council election puts him in the minority among Camp Verde’s elected leaders.
http://aliciapatterson.org/sites/default/files/styles/node_image/public/Olsen06_0.jpg
Illegal dumping is just one of the management headaches the Prescott National Forest cites to justify trading this parcel near Clarkdale, Ariz. to a private developer as part of the Northern Arizona National Forest Land Exchange. The land also is too close to rapidly growing towns to remain part of the Prescott Forest, Forest Service officials say. If traded, Ruskin plans to subdivide the land into estate-size home lots.
http://aliciapatterson.org/sites/default/files/styles/node_image/public/Olsen05_0.jpg
Seven years and $1 million after he initiated the Northern Arizona National Forest Land Exchange with the Prescott National Forest, ranch owner Fred Ruskin hopes he is close to getting a bill through Congress mandating the trade. "If I had know it would take this long and cost this much money, I never would have done it," Ruskin says. "I would have subdivided the ranch."
http://aliciapatterson.org/sites/default/files/styles/node_image/public/Olsen02_0.jpg
Map Credit: Barry Nichols
http://aliciapatterson.org/sites/default/files/styles/node_image/public/Olsen03_0.jpg
Map Credit: Barry Nichols
http://aliciapatterson.org/sites/default/files/styles/node_image/public/Olsen04_0.jpg
If the Northern Arizona National Forest Land Exchange is approved by Congress, Fred Ruskin's family will end up owning about 21,000 acres of land around this ranch headquarters. Under the terms of the legislation introduced in the Senate this spring, Ruskin keeps the best water wells and distribution pipelines on nearby land he is trading to the Prescott National Forest, giving him the means to supply a possible future subdivision here.
http://aliciapatterson.org/sites/default/files/styles/node_image/public/Olsen01_0.jpg
Rancher, developer and physician Fred Ruskin stands on Gobbler Knob, in the Prescott National Forest in northern Ariz. His family owns some of the acreage in the background and wants to trade it to the U.S. Forest Service for valuable development land elsewhere in the state as part of the Northern Arizona National Forest Land Exchange.
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