Ray Powell Fights Dixon Apples

Albuquerque Journal - New Mexico’s most famous apple growers are taking their plight to the public, telling the story of how three generations of their family built a business growing Dixon apples. Of how, after a devastating year of flames and floods, the Mullane family is ready to pack up and move on. And how, by leasing the orchard and an adjacent 8,500 acres to San Felipe Pueblo for $2.8 million, the Mullanes will have capital to start over in Wisconsin.

But the state Land Office is trying to come up with its own version of a happy ending, and for now that does not include allowing the Mullanes to lease the orchard and adjacent land to the pueblo under the current contract terms. While the apple farm and its threatened trees have been the public focus of the dispute, a major issue for State Land Commissioner Ray Powell is an additional 8,500 additional acres attached to the orchard.

It is worth far more than the $100 a year the Mullanes are paying for it, he says. Powell says that’s the property — not the orchard — that the pueblo is willing to pay millions for, because it holds burial sites and other culturally important features.
Powell says he can extract the 8,500 acreage that was attached to the orchard in a 2007 lease deal and either trade it or find another lessee to make more money — he says it could bring in as much as $250,000 a year. Read full story here (subscription required) News New Mexico

Ray Powell Fights Dixon Apples