Tagged: y cross ranch

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Senator Phil Nicholas has decided to remove himself from sponsoring a funding request for the Laramie Aquifer leaving Laramie Democrat Chris Rothfuss to oversee that effort.  Nicholas was accused of having a conflict of interest in brokering a land deal for his client, former legislator Doug Samuelson.  The proposal was to have the state buy Samuelson’s land and turn it into a state park.  Laramie citizens then could have access to the property and it would prevent development from occurring above the Laramie aquifer. 

However some thought Nicholas was unfairly using his position as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee to pay for the sale.   Today Nicholas apologized for the distraction on the Senate floor and says the issue will be removed from the budget.

The chairman of the Wyoming Legislature's Senate Appropriations Committee is advocating a deal in which the state would buy 11,000 acres from a client of his law firm.
Republican Sen. Phil Nicholas of Laramie is meanwhile keeping alive a proposal under which the client, Doug Samuelson, would acquire a 50,000-acre ranch between Laramie and Cheyenne. The Colorado State University Research Foundation and University of Wyoming Foundation jointly own the Y Cross Ranch.
Nicholas says Wyoming should buy 11,000 acres that Samuelson's Warren Livestock LLC, owns east of Laramie to establish a state park and protect the Laramie aquifer. Nicholas says he would not profit from the deal.

A Denver woman who donated her family's
vast ranch to promote hands-on agriculture education at the
University of Wyoming and Colorado State University says she's
disappointed the schools haven't made better use of her gift as a
teaching tool.
     Now the universities are preparing to sell the Y Cross Ranch.
Amy Davis says if she could do it all over again, she wouldn't have
donated the property between Cheyenne and Laramie in southeast
Wyoming.
     Both schools acknowledge they haven't put the Y Cross Ranch to
maximum use. The agriculture dean at the University of Wyoming,
Francis Galey, says that as a working ranch, the Y Cross is a
difficult place to hold classes and host students.