Rumors Are Swirling About Kuiu Being Sold to an Anti-Public Lands Billionaire. Here’s What’s Actually Going On 

Kuiu’s sale to a personal fairness group appeared like typical out of doors business information, not less than till it was revealed that one individual linked to the group has a combined monitor report on public-land conservation.

The sale of the favored California-based ultralight looking model was largely missed by the looking neighborhood when it was announced on Dec. 8 in a sequence of press releases, together with one issued by partial investor Cox Enterprises. Cox is an Atlanta-based conglomerate that features the cable and web supplier Cox Communications. 

However on Wednesday the favored social media account Rack Junkies raised considerations over the sale in a Facebook post and no small controversy ensued. With out itemizing names, Rack Junkies drew a connection between Cox Enterprises chair emeritus, James C. Kennedy, and his attempts to privatize stream access in Montana a decade in the past (extra on this in a minute).

“Now that this similar billionaire conservation cash [sic] owns a serious looking model, it’s truthful to ask the uncomfortable query,” wrote Rack Junkies operator Stephen Ziegler, who additionally owns DeLong Lures and Killshot Espresso. “Is it actually a good suggestion for a ‘conservationist’ who makes use of his cash to kick individuals off public land to personal a looking model as huge as KUIU?”

Members of the looking neighborhood weighed in within the feedback, with some requesting extra particulars and others swearing off Kuiu eternally. To be clear, Cox Open air doesn’t personal KUIU.

Kuiu has been “acquired by an investor group comprising conservation-driven households and companies, together with Cox Enterprises,” in accordance with a press launch. The corporate’s funding in Kuiu is nested beneath a brand new division of Cox Enterprises, known as Cox Outdoors, alongside Loop Sort out. Cox acquired the Scandinavian fishing firm final 12 months.

Kennedy is now not the chairman or CEO of Cox Enterprises, and it’s unclear what his involvement with Kuiu will seem like, if any. Kuiu CEO Melissa Woolf declined to call particular buyers for the reason that firm is privately held. 

Kennedy at the moment chairs the James E. Cox Basis, which has donated some $325 million to conservation efforts, together with $100 million to Geese Limitless with a further $100 million promised. 

Kennedy, now in his late 70s, couldn’t be reached for remark for this text. When requested about his previous lawsuit over public entry on the Ruby River, a Cox spokesperson declined to touch upon private issues of Cox members of the family.

Revisiting the Ruby River Combat

Kennedy, who has a net worth of $9.9 billion, owns roughly 6,700 acres alongside the Ruby River in Madison County, Montana, onX Hunt and Madison County property data present.

Within the early 2000s, Kennedy “started to bodily bar entry by erecting barbed wire and electrical fences throughout the easement between the bridge and the water” of the Ruby River, in accordance with a 2015 opinion piece in Outside Bozeman by Don Thomas. Thomas is a Montana resident and out of doors author who contributed to Geese Limitless and Out of doors Life.

Finally Kennedy joined in as a complainant in a lawsuit that would have barred public entry to waterways throughout Montana if he’d received. As an alternative, the Montana Supreme Court docket ultimately ruled against non-public landowners in 2014 and upheld public waterway entry within the state. 

When Thomas criticized Kennedy’s efforts to close out entry in his 2015 column, Ducks Unlimited fired Thomas, who told reporters at the time that he suspected Kennedy approached the DU board and insisted on his termination.

The general public firing triggered unimaginable turmoil within the looking neighborhood, with some hunters going as far as to jot down DU out of their wills, Thomas says. Right now, the 77-year-old Lewistown resident nonetheless stands by what he wrote in protection of public entry. Kennedy’s makes an attempt to shutter entry to the Ruby River and overturn public entry state-wide have been, he says, “so completely pointless it was nearly vindictive.”

“No one floating the Ruby River was bothering him one bit. [Barring access] was clearly unlawful. The courts determined that repeatedly. He didn’t need to do it, he shouldn’t have accomplished it. I’m not going to fake that he hasn’t accomplished some good for waterfowl habitat [with his donations], however this was actually a petty factor and there was no purpose for it.”

Thomas at the moment serves on the board of the Montana Sportsman Alliance, which he says often offers with wealthy out-of-staters who move to Montana and try to upset the established order of public anglers and hunters. 

“I used to be offended, and possibly anger wasn’t the very best emotion to convey to the desk,” Thomas says of his criticism of Kennedy. “But it surely was actually properly acquired. I couldn’t purchase a beer in Bozeman for a 12 months after that. In comparison with what seems within the media on a regular basis at present, it was actually fairly tame. Ninety % of that article was only a historical past of the PLWA and courtroom instances. Nobody ever challenged the factual materials within the article. It was free expression of an opinion.”

Ziegler, the hunter behind Rack Junkies, feels equally about making an attempt to boost public consciousness about any potential connection between Kennedy and the Kuiu acquisition.

“I’ve simply observed that loads of the individuals controlling this business are billionaires and politicians,” Ziegler tells OL. “I hope that James Kennedy comes out and says, ‘, that is what occurred. That is what I did,’ and makes all of it good. I would like transparency.”

The Way forward for Kuiu Below New Possession

Melissa Woolf has served as Kuiu’s CEO since 2018, and has labored on the firm since Jason Hairston based it 14 years in the past (she and Hairston have been neighbors). Woolf and her crew are remaining of their roles beneath Kuiu’s new possession. And though some social media customers have criticized Kuiu for “promoting out” to non-public fairness, Woolf clarifies that Kuiu has truly acquired PE funding since 2017.

“Kuiu has at all times stood for conservation and public-land looking, and that hasn’t modified,” Woolf says. “The brand new possession group shares those self same values and are devoted hunters who assist public-land entry. Kuiu’s stance on public land won’t change.”

Woolf expects Kuiu to stay a direct-to-consumer model beneath its new buyers, which embody the Cox household. The model additionally has plans to open extra brick-and-mortar shops to construct on its 5 retail locations at the moment open in California, Texas, and Maryland. Because of that funding, Woolf says, Kuiu now has the liberty to give attention to “efficiency over revenue” and improve the brand’s conservation initiatives.

“The brand new possession actually made it clear that they need Kuiu to proceed to innovate and make nice gear. They’re actually passionate sportsmen and outdoorsmen. They clearly like what we’re doing and wish to lean into that extra with us,” Woolf says. “I really feel actually good about this group understanding that it’s not simply what you [might] take into consideration with non-public fairness — these are out of doors fanatics who already cherished Kuiu and who have been already end-users of our product.”

Dac Collins contributed reporting.