This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The state's top wildlife official bagged a big one Friday - a patch of premier wildlife habitat and fishing heaven on the Green River below Flaming Gorge Dam.
Jim Karpowitz bid more than $1.6 million and won the title to 356 acres at Little Hole in Daggett County on behalf of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
"It secures a really scenic, valuable parcel of wildlife habitat forever," he said, flushed and perspiring after signing the final bid documents at Friday's Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration auction.
But, in less time than it takes to bait a hook, the DWR purchase caused a ruckus.
On one side, anglers, hunters and conservationists breathed a sigh of relief that an important patch of land will be conserved. And some vowed to fight for changes in the state law mandating that trust lands administrators get the highest possible price for the assets they manage on behalf of schools and higher education.
On the other, Daggett County and a PTA representative criticized the DWR for driving away commercial development at Little Hole. Natalie Gordon, the Utah PTA's representative on the trust lands board, said schools had been "ripped off" because the DWR had denied outside buyers access to the property across adjacent state lands. The expected bidders included Georgia resort developers who apparently were frightened away from Friday's auction.
"It seems like [DWR's parent agency] manipulated the process, and the children were short-changed," she said.
Karpowitz disputed that notion, pointing out that bidding drove the price up from the minimum bid allowed - $1.25 million - to the final price of $1.625 million. The other bidder: an Ogden orthopedic surgeon who told The Associated Press he wanted to outbid developers and put the land into a conservation easement.
"In the long run," Karpowitz said, "the school kids of Utah are way ahead for having this to enjoy in perpetuity."
Daggett County, eager for new jobs and tax revenues if private owners snagged Little Hole, sent a letter encouraging the DWR to open the gates to the area, no matter who won the bidding. It was read before the auction began.
A number of partners rushed in to assist Karpowitz's agency when it became clear a few months ago that the trust lands agency was going to auction the land, rather than trade it or even give it to a fellow state agency.
The Nature Conservancy brought Questar Exploration and Development Co. to the table. And the Utah Reclamation and Mitigation Commission, a federal agency with a mandate to heal the damage done in Utah by dam-building, pledged more than half the money the state wildlife office needed to buy Little Hole for conservation.
"We take a lot of pride in doing things the right way environmentally," said Questar E&P President and CEO Charles Stanley, whose investors will be chipping in about one-forth of the purchase price. "We look for ways to offset [the company's] unavoidable impacts on the environment."
The Little Hole sale accounted for nearly half of the proceeds of Friday's trust lands auction. Overall, the agency sold a dozen parcels, involving 2,148 acres, for more than $3.4 million.
John Weis, an angler who sat in on the auction, criticized the trust lands agency for its handling of Little Hole.
"The schoolchildren of Utah made an absolute killing on this piece of land," he said, praising the partnership that allowed it to be preserved for their enjoyment forever. "What's a crime is that this ever had to go up for sale."
He predicted there will be an effort to change the law so the situation does not arise again.