It could soon become even more remote. A proposed land trade between the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) and Hunt Consolidated, a Dallas-based oil company, would, when completed, effectively form a privately held barrier to about 80,000 acres of federal land on the west rim of Desolation Canyon - at least via the most direct route, by hiking or horseback, from Range Creek in the Roan Cliffs of eastern Carbon County.

It is a deal that a loosely organized band of sportsmen and hikers, who call themselves the Desolation Canyon Coalition, are working hard to block. But they face an uphill climb, not unlike the 3,000-foot elevation gains one must endure to get to the top of the plateau.

For one thing, the trade has been in the works for a long time, according to DWR officials. For another, the block of land in question was historically privately owned until just a few years ago, when the Bureau of Land Management purchased the land from local rancher Waldo Wilcox, then essentially deeded it to the state.

In exchange for giving up about 4,000 acres of what's known as the "Wilcox Acquisition," the state will receive a similar-sized parcel from Hunt Oil that lies farther north in an area known as Cold Springs.

The Wilcox land is "a great piece of property for the half a dozen or so people who have the energy to go up there without trespassing," says Derris Jones, the DWR's regional supervisor in Carbon County. "But hunters are gaining better access in the Cold Springs area, and the rest of Utah can see the forest there as well."

However, Tim Pilling, the Desolation Canyon Coalition's unofficial spokesman, argues that there is something inherently wrong about denying the public access to public lands - especially when the area in question is so large and the access alternative, in this case, is a twisting 80-mile drive on dirt roads.

What Pilling says he sees is a sustained effort by Hunt Oil to not only conclude the land swap but to purchase surrounding state School Institutional Trust Lands in a bid to keep the public off the land surrounding its own spread - a vast 32,000-acre property historically known as the Preston Nutter Ranch that is anchored by the Hunt family's hunting lodge.

"All I want is a little road or trail to get to my hunting hole, the one I've been going to for 15 years," Pilling says. "But Hunt Oil says any type of easement through that land is a deal-breaker. So it's pretty obvious what this is all about."

Pilling, an engineer, has gone to great lengths to demonstrate the value of maintaining public access to the canyon rim; he spent a good chunk of this past summer using GPS to lay out possible routes for a trail system that could connect the Wilcox land and the bottom of Desolation Canyon - where only river runners tread now.

"It's clear that [state officials] don't want hunters or hikers up there," complains fellow coalition member Rich LaRocco, who owns a hunting consulting business.

But Hunt Oil representative Blair Eastman insists that the coalition is seeing the land swap through its own narrow lens.

Eastman, who manages the company's lodge and property, says the land swap is more than equitable. He calls the Cold Springs tract superior to the Wilcox area in terms of its diversity of terrain and wildlife habitat. Utah hunters - and taxpayers - will come out ahead on the deal, he maintains.

"We had both areas appraised, and Cold Springs got a higher evaluation by $40,000 to $60,000," Eastman says. "You want an acre-for-acre swap to be fair; this is more like a $50,000 gift."

The Hunt spokesman also defends the company's desire to keep its land off-limits to the public, describing the Nutter Ranch as a hunting and vacation property for the Hunt family and invited guests, with no plans to drill for oil or gas. To that end, Eastman says the company has consistently resisted attempts to allow easements on its land, prevailing in a similar access dispute with Carbon County five years ago over a road on nearby Cottonwood Ridge.

It was also that conflict, Eastman says, that gave rise to the land swap.

"We came back and offered to open up the Cold Springs area, which would create access from East Carbon and create a loop via Nine Mile Canyon," he says. "Then we went to the BLM and started the exchange."

Helping drive the trade from the other end has been Don Peay, whose Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife organization is hugely influential on Capitol Hill - and is a past beneficiary of Hunt Oil financial contributions.

Peay insists that not only is the state receiving prime wildlife habitat in the deal, but the trade also will clear up what he calls a confusing mishmash of public and private land boundaries in the Range Creek area - a locale brought to the forefront earlier this year with the discovery of a trove of Indian artifacts farther south of the Wilcox area.

"All we're really doing is simplifying the boundaries, making private private and public public," says Peay. "It is a mischaracterization [to say] that this big, bad Texas billionaire is coming in and sweeping up all the land."

Watching all of this from the outside with some interest is the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. But Heidi McIntosh, SUWA's conservation director, says the organization is taking no position on the land swap. In fact, she sees some benefits in making it harder to access Desolation Canyon's west rim - it protects BLM land designated as a Wilderness Study Area.

"For us, it's not about getting into the backcountry," McIntosh explains. "It's about preserving the backcountry."

Caught in the middle, Carbon County officials say they are seeking a compromise that will placate the Desolation Canyon Coalition, private interests and wilderness advocates.

Still, Pilling and his cohorts question why what they call a very desirable piece of public land - which provides a turnkey to an even larger section of public land - is being traded away.

"It's a phenomenal place," Pilling says of Desolation's vast west rim. "But if this goes through, very few people are ever going to get to see it."

jbaird@sltrib.com

bpretty@sltrib.com