‘Polyamory, cults and arms’: How dispute over 1,400 acres of Colorado land spiraled into misinformation row

A boundary dispute in a forest in southwestern Colorado spilled over into a row over misinformation, amid claims a ‘polyamorous cult’ was squaring off with angry locals.

Earlier this week news outlets reported that a conflict between residents and a group calling itself the Free Land Holders Committee had escalated when locals began tearing down barbed-wire fencing the group had erected around about 1,400 acres of land in the San Juan National Forest, near the town of Mancos. The land has been used for everything from grazing cattle and hunting to camping and dirt biking.

Some reports linked the Free Land Holders group to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), a polygamist sect led by Warren Jeffs, a self-proclaimed prophet who is currently imprisoned after being convicted of child sexual assault. But this was not the case, local authorities say.

"They’re not part of a fundamentalist Latter Day Saints church at all, not that I’m aware of, because I’ve been out there and I certainly don’t see multiple wives or anything else," Montezuma Sheriff Steve Nowlin told The Independent.

The US Forest Service says, according to its records, that the land in question has been owned by the federal government since 1927. The group disagrees.

Patrick Pipkin, a member of the Free Land Holders, points to historic documents and treaties dating back hundreds of years that his group says entitles them to the land. Earlier this week they put up notices staking their claim to the disputed 1,400 acres.

Ultimately the matter of who has the right to the land will be resolved in court, and the local sheriff stressed in a statement that the Chicken Creek trail system was still open to the public.

“This situation has been going on between me and the Forest Service for upwards of six years now, this ain’t no new thing,” Pipkin said, claiming that the group had received multiple threats over the past week.

On October 10, angry residents – some carrying arms, according to Pipkin – cut down sections of the fence, vowing to return the following day. But he was quick to urge calm when he spoke to the Independent about the ongoing situation.

“We’re at peace,” he said. “We’re not at war. We’re not here for confrontation or cause any upheaval, and they were armed. We were not armed.”

Some media reports had branded the dispute as a conflict between residents and “a polyamory cult,” attempting to tie the Free Land Holders to the (FLDS). While members of the group had been born into the sect, they escaped following Jeffs’ imprisonment.

Prior to his conviction Jeffs owned property across the southwest of Colorado – including a property outside Mancos, which stretches over 60 acres and includes three houses and nine outbuildings.

It was later put under court guardianship, and bought in 2020 by Blue Mountain Ranch LLC, whose owners include Pipkin.

“Our group purchased this land from a sheriff sale years ago… We have nothing to do with that group or anything they’re making up on the news,” Pipkin said. “We have nothing to do with a cult or polyamory or polygamy or whatever the news is broadcasting at the moment.

“We had connections with some family members [but]... I’ve never had anything to do with Warren Jeff or believe his nonsense. Okay? I was never baptized into their church.”

Pipkin said he planned to meet with local media outlets to correct the record.

Reports of aggression between both sides were also said to be exaggerated. Sheriff Nowlin had urged residents not to take matters into their own hands and let authorities handle the situation.

“Please allow the judicial system to proceed as it would in any property dispute,” he wrote on Facebook on October 9. “The Sheriff’s Office has jurisdiction on federal lands for criminal cases only. This is a civil matter at this point.”

Some residents are admittedly frustrated by the situation, and accused the authorities of coming up short in their handling of the dispute.

“The Forest Service is pathetic, and so is our sheriff, as far as I’m concerned,” said County Commissioner Gerald Koppenhafer, who met Free Land Holders at the fence Friday. “They have no right to destroy grazing rights and land,” Koppenhafer told The Journal.

Others voiced concerns about the effects of the group’s fencing on wildlife and livestock grazing.

“It’s impossible for fawns and elk calves to cross this fence,” Brad Finch, a Mancos resident, told KSID. “The does and cow elk can easily jump these fences. Their offspring are trapped behind the fences with no way to get through other than really injuring themselves.”

Eventually, the dispute between the Free Land Holders and the Forest Service will be decided by the state Supreme Court on a date yet to be determined. But that is none of Nowlin’s concern.

“My involvement is just to keep the peace out there and that’s all I’ve asked,” he told The Independent. Patrick Pipkin and those folks agreed that they would not [cause disturbance]. They’ve been very civil and peaceful about everything.

“And everybody else in the community that was out there, you know, did the same. They understood that this is just a boundary dispute, and I get it. I wish they would have gone to court and got it settled before they put up a fence but, you know, again, I can’t stop that.”

The Independent has reached out to the US Forest Service for comment.