For about a century, parts of Spring Canyon—about 40 acres of private land—remained tucked away surrounded by the Gila Wilderness.

Now it is on the path to becoming part of the wilderness area. The Wilderness Land Trust purchased the property and plans to transfer it to the U.S. Forest Service. Upon donation, Spring Canyon will become part of the Gila Wilderness.

Spring Canyon represents what is known as an inholding, which groups like the Wilderness Land Trust say could lead to development within the wilderness areas.

Hundreds of thousands of acres of private land are isolated as inholdings and Spring Canyon was one of a handful located in the nation’s oldest wilderness. 

“Those islands of private lands—inholdings—don’t carry any of the protection of the surrounding land, so they can be developed with anything from cabins to resorts, commercial tourism operations, mining, logging roads can be built on them, and that can really have an impact on the surrounding wilderness with connectivity for habitat, watersheds, wildlife, migration corridors, all kinds of different aspects,” Margosia Jadkowski with the Wilderness Land Trust told NM Political Report. 

She said Spring Canyon is a great example of her agency’s work to protect these lands.

“Our goal is to complete these wilderness areas by removing these threats of development within them,” she said. 

She said there are only a few inholdings left in the Gila Wilderness and Spring Canyon is one of the larger ones. Spring Canyon also represents some important ecological habitats.

“It has a water source on it, which, in that dry and arid climate, is really important,” she said. “And that water source also feeds into the East Fork of the Gila River, which is important.”

She said that while the property is surrounded by wilderness, its proximity to trails and water makes it more likely to have been developed had it not been acquired by the Wilderness Land Trust.

Although roads are not permitted within wilderness areas, there are laws in place that allow private property owners to request access roads. Jadkowski said she doesn’t think that would be the most likely development scenario, though.

Helicopters are often able to land in inholdings and Jadkowski said that could allow for cabins or resorts to be built that are only accessible by helicopter. She said the Wilderness Land Trust has also seen helicopters used to develop dredge mining operations on inholdings.

The 40-acre parcel in Spring Canyon has been used for grazing in the past and does not have any structures on it. 

Jadkowski said at some point in time an owner planted apple trees along the spring. She said the trees are mature now and are fenced off.

“I always find that fascinating,” she said. “Like, which of the owners (planted the trees) or how far in history was that done and why? What dream was it that maybe never materialized, or was it just sort of on a whim?”

The lack of structures on the land does make it easier for the Wilderness Land Trust because they do not have to find a way to remove any buildings before it can be transferred to public ownership.

Jadkowski said the Forest Service will dictate what needs to be done with the fencing prior to the ownership transfer.

“The goal is to restore the property to its wilderness character before being transferred,” she said.

On some of the inholdings the organization has acquired, it has needed to remove entire houses or haul out mining equipment.

Jadkowski gave an example of a property acquired within the Frank Churchill–River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho where there had been an old mining operation. The Wilderness Land Trust hauled off an old vehicle and mining equipment using a boat on the Salmon River.

In most cases, the Wilderness Land Trust sells the parcels they acquire to the federal government. 

Jadkowski said that they generally do not make money on the sale of the land, though usually they come close to breaking even. Sometimes, she said, the organization will lose money on the sale to get it into public ownership. This is because the appraisal done when the Wilderness Land Trust purchases the property is done using a different process than the appraisal that the federal government uses.

The Wilderness Land Trust often pays between $2,000 to $10,000 an acre based on what the parcel appraises for, though it does not disclose what it pays for an individual property.

The federal government has money set aside through the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the purpose of acquiring properties like inholdings. However, the process of transferring the land to public ownership can take two to seven years. Jadkowski said oftentimes land owners do not want to wait years when they decide to sell their property. 

“We’re able to work on both time scales,” she said. “We’re able to work quickly with the private landowner when they’re ready to and willing to sell. We only work with willing landowners, willing sellers. We’re able to work on their timeline and then will actually hold the land for however long that takes for the agency to go through their process to acquire it.”

Jadkowski said the organization works closely with the Forest Service or other agencies to ensure that the federal government is actually interested in acquiring the inholding.

While the Wilderness Land Trust does send mailers to property owners offering to buy their land, Jadkowski said often the federal agency approaches the organization after hearing that the landowner is considering selling.

The Spring Canyon parcel represents the 27th acquisition the Wilderness Land Trust has made in New Mexico and that effort has protected more than 5,000 acres within the state.

Nationwide, over more than three decades, the organization has transferred 587 properties into public ownership, totalling more than 57,900 acres.

“As America’s first wilderness area, the Gila Wilderness is both an incredible landscape and an important part of our public lands history,” Brian Stultz, a district ranger of the Wilderness Ranger District of the Gila National Forest, said in a press release. “We’re proud to be stewards of it, and look forward to working with The Wilderness Land Trust to add the Spring Canyon property to the forest for future generations to enjoy.”