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WYOMING MAN AT U.S SUPREME COURT
U.S. Forest Service Takes Private Land For Trail
A Wyoming man who has fought a long-running battle with the U.S. Forest Service over its attempt to seize his private property and convert it to a public, recreational trail, asked the Supreme Court of the United States to review a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver that upheld the holding of a Wyoming federal district court in favor of the U.S. Forest Service. Marvin Brandt of Fox Park, Wyoming, claims title to land once used as a railroad right-of-way but that reverted to him when the railroad was abandoned. He also claims title to a road that accesses his property. The railroad right-of-way was in use from 1904 until 1995, when it was abandoned by the railroad. As of 2000, all tracks and ties had been removed. Subsequently, the Forest Service abandoned what was once the road. In 2005, the Forest Service announced plans to convert the non-existent right-of-way into a high-altitude, public, recreational trail. In 2006, the United States sued Mr. Brant and others in Wyoming federal district court to quiet title to the “trail” in its name. MSLF, on Mr. Brandt’s behalf, filed a counterclaim to quiet title in favor of Mr. Brandt. In 2009, the Wyoming federal district court quieted title to the old railroad right-of-way in favor of the United States, holding that the Forest Service retained a reversionary interest in the railroad right-of-way pursuant to two federal statutes. The district court also ruled that the United States could expand the scope of the railroad right-of-way to include a public, recreational trail. Finally, the district court ruled that the Forest Service did not abandon the road despite a gate, fence, and trees where the road once was and obliteration of the road. Mr. Brandt appealed to the Tenth Circuit where all briefing was completed and oral arguments held by mid-2010. At last, in late 2012, a three-judge panel issued a short, per curiam decision that affirmed the district court, a decision the panel could have issued after oral arguments two plus years earlier! Mr. Brandt sought a rehearing en banc; however, that petition was denied. In February 1904, pursuant to the General Railroad Right-of-Way Act, the Laramie, Hahn’s Peak and Pacific Railroad Company filed with the U.S. Department of the Interior and, thus, in 1908, acquired a 200-foot-wide, 66-mile-long right-of-way from Laramie, Wyoming, to the Colorado State line. The railroad operated until September 1995, and, in May 1996, the Wyoming and Colorado Railroad Company, as the railroad was then known, filed a Notice of Intent to Abandon Rail Service from near Laramie, Wyoming, to the Colorado border. By 2004, the railroad company had removed all the tracks and ties. By operation of federal and state law, the right-of-way was extinguished and Mr. Brandt’s property became unencumbered. The land along the railroad right-of-way was reserved from the public domain by presidential proclamation and became part of the Medicine Bow National Forest. The private land areas of Albany, Fox Park, and Mountain Home along the right-of-way were acquired after creation of the railroad and are subject to it. At Albany, private lots were platted over the right-of-way and the land conveyed subject to the railroad. Abandonment of the railroad right-of-way thus creates a title conflict between these ownerships and the effects of the 1988 Rails-to-Trails Act. Mr. Brandt owns 83 acres of private land patented to him in February 1976, as part of an exchange with the Forest Service.
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