Buyer known for speculating around National Parks
By Greg Zimmerman
The Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration sold-off thousands of acres of state-owned lands this week, including privatizing nearly 400 acres lying within the proposed Bears Ears National Monument. The Comb Ridge parcel‚Ää—‚Ääwhich sold for $500,000 to a land speculator‚Ää—‚Ääholds significant cultural resources, including portions of the historic Hole in the Rock Trail.
The winning bid went to an infamous Utah land speculator, the “Lyman Family Farm, Inc.,” which outbid the Hole in the Rock Foundation and The Conservation Fund. The Hole in the Rock Foundation, who had nominated the parcel for auction, hoped to use the land as a launching pad to lead youth groups on historical and cultural tours of the Hole in the Rock Trail blazed by Mormon pioneers in 1879.