The owner of a gravel pit that operated without authorization on federal land near Colbran will pay $255,000 as part of a settlement with the government.

Merial I. Currier and Currier Gravel Pit, Inc., operated the pit on the Bureau of Land Management land. Between 1991 and 2010 they removed more than 300 million pounds of sand and gravel from the nine-acre site, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver.

Currier operated the pit without BLM authorization needed to remove and sell sand and gravel from the pit.

The company “legitimately holds land that is next to the BLM land,” said Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver.

In 2010, the agency did a formal survey of the property and found that it had encroached on the BLM land, he said. “There were settlement discussions and the company agreed to pay the amount of money that we believe the product was worth that they withdrew from th land.”

The United States alleges Currier or her predecessor, Carleton Currier, also constructed a four-acre reservoir on BLM land, without getting authorization from the agency.

Merial Currier also agreed to ensure that reclamation is performed for the damaged land and to dismiss an appeal contesting the United States’ ownership of the property that she had filed with the Interior Board of Land Appeals.

Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671, tmcghee@denverpost.com or twitter.com/dpmcghee