UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS March 6, 2023 Christopher M. Wolpert FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT Clerk of Court _________________________________

THE HIGH LONESOME RANCH, LLC,

Plaintiff / Counterclaim Defendant - Appellant,

v. No. 21-1020

THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS FOR THE COUNTY OF GARFIELD,

Defendant / Counterclaimant / Cross-Claimant - Appellee,

and

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, through its agency, the Bureau of Land Management, a division of the United States Department of Interior,

Defendant / Cross-Claim Defendant - Appellee.

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PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION; COLORADO FARM BUREAU; NEW MEXICO HABITAT CONSERVATION INITIATIVE; ROCKY MOUNTAIN FARMERS UNION; THE PROPERTY AND ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH CENTER; UTAH FARMERS UNION; WESTERN LANDOWNERS ALLIANCE; COLORADO Appellate Case: 21-1020 Document: 010110821933 Date Filed: 03/06/2023 Page: 2

COUNTIES, INC.,

Amici Curiae. _________________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Colorado (D.C. No. 1:17-CV-01260-RBJ-GPG) _________________________________

Frederick R. Yarger (Ryan W. Cooke with him on the briefs), of Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Geoffrey P. Anderson of Anderson Notarianni McMahon LLC, Denver, Colorado (Joshua D. McMahon of Anderson Notarianni McMahon LLC, Denver, Colorado, and Tari L. Williams of Garfield County Attorney’s Office, Glenwood Springs, Colorado, with him on the brief), for Defendant-Appellee.

Jeffrey W. McCoy of Pacific Legal Foundation, Sacramento, California, and Glenn E. Roper of Pacific Legal Foundation, Highlands Ranch, Colorado, filed an amicus brief for Pacific Legal Foundation and Colorado Farm Bureau.

Christopher O. Murray, Julian R. Ellis, Jr., and Sean S. Cuff of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP, Denver, Colorado, filed an amicus brief for Western Landowners Alliance, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, Utah Farmers Center, and New Mexico Habitat Conservation Initiative.

Andrew D. Ringel of Hall & Evans LLC, Denver, Colorado, filed an amicus brief for Colorado Counties, Inc. _________________________________

Before MATHESON, EBEL, and PHILLIPS, Circuit Judges. _________________________________

PHILLIPS, Circuit Judge. _________________________________

We must resolve whether Garfield County, Colorado, has a right-of-way

over two dirt roads within the county—North Dry Fork Road and Middle Dry

Fork Road. The two roads run east to west across the property owned by the

2 Appellate Case: 21-1020 Document: 010110821933 Date Filed: 03/06/2023 Page: 3

High Lonesome Ranch, a conservation and livestock ranch offering hunting and

outdoor-recreation services.

For years, the Ranch restricted access to the roads by locking a gate. But

in 2015, during a county meeting, the Garfield County Commission directed the

Ranch to remove the locked gate after concluding that the two disputed roads

were subject to public rights-of-way. The Ranch refused and filed a

declaratory-judgment action in Colorado state court opposing the County’s

position. At first, the County asked the state court to dismiss the case for

failure to name the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) as a party. But

rather than dismissing, the state court ordered the Ranch to join the United

States (BLM) as a necessary party, and the Ranch did so. The United States

promptly removed the cas