White Peak, White's Peak, Whites Peak.

Call it what you like, the 40,000 acres of prime hunting land in northeastern New Mexico is controversial.

The single envelope in a locked box at the State Land Office after 4 p.m. Tuesday is the opening salvo in the latest fight over access and landownership around the peak. The envelope contained David Stanley's bid to purchase 7,205 acres of state trust land around White Peak. The land was appraised at $6.3 million. Stanley plans to trade the land for 3,336 acres of his private Stanley Ranch land on the east side of White Peak.

It is one of four proposed land exchanges cut between State Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons and four ranchers, including Stanley. Lyons said the exchanges will consolidate state trust lands leading to new public access routes, better hunting opportunities, improved wildlife habitat and more opportunities for other outdoor recreation.

Lyons said something must be done to finally resolve trespass and property damage problems on private land around what he now calls Whites Peak. And he is threatening to yank hunting privileges on the state trust lands if this land swap doesn't go through.

Hunters and others who've grown up using the area aren't buying it. They say it's yet another attempt by the commissioner to close access on a popular road to the area, and say the hunting is just fine as it is. "My personal opinion is if the process had been transparent and sportsmen, hunters and outdoor enthusiasts had been involved and agreed on something, it wouldn't be so controversial," said Danny Cruz, former Springer mayor. "Right now it looks like the state land commissioner, duly elected by the people, representing the people, is filling in for minority private interests."

The New Mexico Wildlife Federation notes the state land office would lose 4,000 acres of trust lands in the Stanley Ranch swap. The state claims the acreage is valued at about the same amount, "but the public hasn't seen the appraisals," said Jeremy Vesbach, executive director of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation.

David Stanley, a former Santa Fe land developer, said his family's problems with trespassers and vandals around White Peak started 30 years ago when his dad, Dudley Stanley, purchased the 12,000-acre ranch. He claims ranch foremen faced death threats, no trespassing signs have been stolen and people on all-terrain vehicles have damaged land. He says his family didn't file police reports because they didn't expect anything to be done.

Stanley said his father tired of dealing with the situation and was going to sell the ranch. Stanley sold his Santa Fe properties and other holdings to buy the ranch, where he said he lives part-time and raises organic beef.

He said last year he posted more than 100 no-trespassing signs around the ranch. Most of them were gone within two weeks. "Hunters don't want to give up control of the area," he said. "They don't care what it looks like. If it brings more control to this area, they don't want it."

He said the land exchange he's worked out with the State Land Office will provide a new public access route to trust lands east of White Peak off N.M. 120 near Ocate. Lyons said a new road would be built there.

Local residents, hunters, and the attorney general fought Lyons and the owners of the UU Bar Ranch in the late 1990s to keep open a road from Springer to state trust lands east of White Peak. The case went all the way to the state Supreme Court, which ruled a portion of the road was public.

Now, one of the four land swaps proposed would give trust land, where the disputed road leads, to the UU Bar Ranch in exchange for ranch land in the grasslands. Hunters see it as another attempt by the ranch to keep state trust lands as their private playground and charge hunters big bucks.

Lyons has made multiple attempt to resolve the land issues around White Peak. In 2003, he proposed trading the state trust land for private land northeast of Cimarron. He changed his mind after public outcry opposing the swap.

In 2004, he said he favored legislation to buy the Stanley Ranch. The legislation, seeking $15 million to buy the ranch, has been proposed by state Sen. Pete Campos, D-Las Vegas, every year since, but has gone nowhere.

Gov. Bill Richardson and U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, who was attorney general when the UU Bar road closure occurred, have publicly denounced Lyons' latest land swap proposal. The UU Bar Ranch would purchase 3,431 acres of state trust land and exchange it for 3,610 acres of their private land. The CS Cattle Ranch and William Galloway also have proposed land swaps on White Peak's west side.

Cruz grew up hunting what locals call White's Peak with his father. He said by and large, most of the hunters are responsible and respect private land. But "there is always a small percentage of hunters that will not respect other people's property, a small percent that will litter, some that will trespass," he said.

Still, swapping out land that's long been mired in controversy without letting the public see exactly what is proposed and working with them isn't the way to go, he said. Even if the Stanley Ranch and other land swaps go through, "this will end up back in court. That would be a travesty."

Contact Staci Matlock at 986-3055 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.