Persistence Pays Off in Old Woman Mountains Wilderness Area

More often than not, land acquisitions are negotiated between the Land Trust and a single landowner, but occasionally there are unforeseen title issues that require additional steps and time… 

A woman had inherited a 320 acre parcel in the Old Woman Mountains Wilderness Area.  She had owned it for years, but was unaware that she shared ownership with two other people until she decided to sell the parcel to Mojave Desert Land Trust.  A parcel is usually identified by one number; however this parcel showed three different numbers.  As a result, it was sold twice through tax sale and was shared by three separate owners.

The second owner was a large landowner who had acquired most of their properties through tax sale.  Mojave Desert Land Trust had sent letters regarding many of their properties, and the owner eventually contacted us with the intention to sell some of them.  Luckily, this provided us the opportunity to discuss the shared ownership parcel and they agreed to sell if the other two owners agreed. 

The third owner was also a large landowner.  He had previously sold several parcels to Mojave Desert Land Trust, but the shared ownership parcel was unique.  He shared his portion with his deceased father, whose interests were in a conservatorship.  He didn’t want to sell it because he was in litigation with his family and this particular parcel was involved.  After prolonged negotiations the conservator ultimately decided in favor of selling, with the caveat that the sale must close by an established deadline.

We promptly contacted the first landowner to inform her of our progress, but found that she was unable to proceed due to property rights.  When she inherited the property it was authenticated in Canada, so she had to go through probate in California to prove that she had a right to the property.  Since this is typically a long process, we hired a paralegal to assist while the landowner worked diligently to secure a tax ID number from the IRS.  We finally cleared title and acquired the parcel within the timeline that the conservator had established!

A portion of these 320 acres can be seen in the photos to the left.  They are currently being conveyed to BLM for long term protection under their Designated Wilderness Land Management Plan.

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Painting © Diane Best