Albuquerque Tribune 3 October 2002

PO Drawer T

7777 Jefferson Street NE

Albuquerque, NM 87109-4360

To the Editor:

In regards to Mark Boslough’s August 6^th “Today’s Bylines” article, where he trashes the Mile-Hi Jeep Club, I submit this letter to reveal the truths about his accusations and the Barking Dog (Balarat) trail.

· Boslough starts his article with creative imagination “On Sept 1, 1846 . . . camped in a place that is now on the outskirts of Elko, NV. The night was dark and quiet.” How does he know all of this? He should have started it” Once upon a time . . . because most of what he wrote after the opening is fiction made up by his creative mind. Read on.

· Boslough has NEVER met nor talked to or had any discussions with any member of the Mile-Hi Jeep Club or any member of its BOD. Yet, he has the audacity to continue trashing a 200 family member organization that spends hundreds of man-hours every year working in the forests and public lands.

· Boslough says: “My old maps show a single-track footpath along Balarat Creek”. The truth is that this trail has been a two-track road to the mines in the Balarat area for over 100 years. Miners used it to come go and from the mines in the Balarat area and also brought mule trains and ore wagons down to Jamestown. It is also on Boulder County maps as a county road and on the forest service maps as a forest road, FSR 523 (4wd). It has been a popular 4WD trail for over 50 years.

· In 1999, the trail was posted with a sign “Private Property, stay on road” (not Boslough’s sign). Boslough did not post ANY signs until late 2000.

· Boslough only owns three mining claims that partially cross the trail. He does NOT own the road. He has NO authority to close the road.

NOTE: It also meets the definition of a public highway in the Colorado Statues 43-2-201(1)(c) C.R.S. 2000 and 43-1-202,C.R.S. 2000 (“All roads and highways which are, on May 4, 1921, by law open to the public traffic shall be public highways . . . ).

· In the spring of 1999, Mile-Hi Jeep Club’s Patrol 21 made a trip to the Barking Dog trail and came across large boulders in the road. THERE WERE NO SIGNS POSTED BY BOSLOUGH.

They provided trail maintenance to clean up the trail, as Mile-Hi and many 4WD clubs do. Colorado 4WD clubs spend over 8000 man-hours yearly on trail clean up, repair, and maintenance, in cooperation with the forest service.

· Immediately after clearing the road of the obstacles, the volunteers reported the illegal closure to the sheriff’s office. The next day the sheriff walked the entire length of the trail and said, “I will not ticket anyone for using the road, as long as they stay on the road”. He also stated that he would, again, have to talk to Boslough.

· Boslough says: . . . I hired a professional forester to draft a forest stewardship plan.” In the past three years, he has never mentioned this so-called plan. Does this plan provide the reason he cut down over 200 trees along the trail and dropped them onto the road? Did this plan also provide an okay to post signs on live trees WITH NAILS AND STAPLES. Foresters don’t provide plans like this.

Again, this forester’s plan is another creation of Boslough’s imagination.

· There is now an increased sedimentation problem in the St. Vrain drainage, probably due to the trees Boslough cut down PLUS the several 2-3 feet deep ditches he dug across the trail. The Balarat Creek drains into the St. Vrain River.

The Boulder Ranger District has been advised of this situation and may have a hydrologist look into it.

· Boslough’s creative imagination originated the “Barking Dog Shovel Brigade” when he talks about jeepers.

· Boslough states: “The Mile-Hi Jeep Clubs web site reported that one vehicle dumped a crankcase load of oil into our creek.” The actual report:” Well, up at the streambed, after he (Jon) managed to lose the driver side steps, one rock seemed to lunge up and manage to take out his oil pan drain plug*.  *Note: the small hole (size of pen) was quickly plugged, and ANY oil lost was removed along with it's soil.  It's amazing what a little silicone, hammering, and duct tape will do, thanks to all that helped.”

I have notarized affidavits from the Jeep owner (Jon) and other trip participants regarding there was NO crankcase of oil dumped into the creek. Again, another creation of Boslough’s imagination.

· Boslough states “ The streamside wildflowers, grasses . . . . are growing back that were crushed under the off-roaders tires”.

The trail is one-vehicle wide and has been a rocky road for over 100 years. There is a steep bank (about 40 degrees and 30-50 feet long) down to the creek on the east side and a steep uphill bank on the west side. There are no go-arounds. The trail is so hard and rocky it prevents any thing from growing in it. Again, this is another creation of Boslough’s imagination.

· Jeepers did not create any campfire rings Boslough removed, but were more than likely made by hikers/campers. Jeepers drive the road and are gone in a couple of hours. He just likes to blame everything he can think of on jeepers. A Jeep must have frightened him when he was a kid and he is now trying to get even.

· Boslough states 90 per cent of forest wildfires are caused by humans, due to roads in the forests. WRONG!! In Colorado, about 90 per cent of wildfires are caused by lightning strikes!!!

· In his article, Boslough erroneously states causes of several of this summer’s wildfires. His imagination just continues to run away!!

· Roads are needed in the nations forest to help the foresters manage insect infestation, logging, recreation, urbanization, grazing management, mining, timber thinning, fire prevention and, of course, fire fighting.

Gene W. King