MANCOS, Colo — A group identifying themselves as the Free Land Holder Committee, or the Free Land Holders, who built a fence across National Forest System lands in the San Juan National Forest, is now being sued by the United States of America.
According to the lawsuit, the fence was built on the Hallar Deed Area within the San Juan National Forest, which is north of Mancos. The public uses the area for many purposes such as recreation and grazing, which the group obstructed with miles of fence posts and barbed wire, the document says.
The United States says it has held the title to the Hallar Deed Area since grantor Fred C. Hallar deeded the land to the country by warranty deed in 1927.
Members of a local Facebook group met in October to remove the fencing at Chicken Creek Road in Mancos. The fence materials were left behind. As of Tuesday, the Free Land Holders had not yet removed those materials, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit names Patrick Pipkin, who's represented himself as an "ambassador" and leader for the Free Land Holders; Bryan Hammon, a member of the group, and defendants that include unknown individuals who built the fence and associate with the group. Pipkin has also suggested publicly that many more members of the group exist than those the Forest Service observed, according to the document.
Pipkin posted notices signed by him and claimed authority on behalf of the group to decide who could and couldn't use the public land, according to the lawsuit. The United States says Pipkin and others involved with the group don't have permission from the U.S. or any legal rights to do this.
Pipkin formerly was a co-owner of Blue Mountain Ranch, which is a private property adjacent to the lands that were fenced by the Free Land Holders. In 2023, he and his co-owners transferred title of Blue Mountain Ranch to a Nevada trust. Pipkin still stays at the ranch and has referred to the building as the group's meeting hall, according to the document.
The Free Land Holders are not directly associated with other Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints groups who owned property in the area previously, the Montezuma County Sheriff's Office said in an October media release.
On Oct. 5, local officials with the Forest Service were made aware that numerous individuals with the group were building a fence in the national forest, according to the Forest Service.
The group asserted that they have ownership of the 1,460 acres of national forest lands within the constructed fence line, the Forest Service said. They claim the land belongs to them under many documents, including the Homestead Act of 1862 and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, according to the lawsuit.
On Oct. 9, the Forest Service met with Pipkin and others to request the immediate removal of the fence. Pipkin didn't agree and asked to speak to a diplomat from the United States, the document says. That same day, Pipkin signed a "Proclamation" that was posted in Mancos stating the group had ownership over the land, they would put up more fencing and they intended to stop respecting the existing grazing rights on the land in 2025.
Nine days later on Oct. 18, Pipkin signed a "Notice of Claim" that was posted at the post office in Mancos saying it “does not supersede” the “Proclamation” made on Oct. 9. It also set a deadline of Dec. 15 for "all those with an equal, previous or superior claim” to reply “or be it this claim has been resolved forever," the document reads.
In response, local community members sent a letter to Colorado state representatives requesting their “assistance in demanding immediate action from the San Juan National Forest, the US Forest Service (USFS), and the Montezuma County Sheriff to stop all illegal actions by the so-called [Free Land Holder Committee] and Patrick Pipkin,” the lawsuit says.
Pipkin has posted six more "Notice[s] of Claims" signed by him at the post office. The most recent time was on Monday, according to the lawsuit.