Editor:
Last weekend, I drove my wife up the Norwood road from Dolores to Forest Road 528, then through to Road 527, normally a pretty drive. It soon became apparent that during recent Forest Service road resurfacing, the Forest Service had used an excavator bucket to de-limb all the pine trees adjacent to the road. The limbs were ripped off up to the height of 25 feet high. The stubs were anywhere from 1 to 6 feet long and shredded, with some still hanging on by their shredded bark. I would guess 55-60 trees. The view was ruined by this mess. What district ranger approved this?
Soon after turning left on Road 527, five different roads on the east side had been recently ripped up by big Forest Service dozers with ripper blades, leaving 2- to 3-foot ruts across the width of the old faint roads so no one can even walk on them. Turning right on the C Road, four or five more roads were ripped the same way. As these small roads are not on the map, there is no way possible that archaeology clearance could have been done on these roads. For the past two years the Forest Service has stated they would not close roads in the Boggy-Glade Management Area by ripping them. What ranger approved this? Their plan hasnt even been approved yet.
The Forest Service is showing pictures of ATV damage at the old Rust Mill site. This is the only ATV damage they can come up with after two years? How many of your readers remember in the early 1980s when the Forest Service took a drip torch and a dozer, burned the cabins down at this site and then buried the mess with the dozer? This was a common practice throughout the Forest Service from the late 1960s until the 1980s, to burn down all cabins less than 50 years old so they wouldnt be classified as historical and have to be protected by the Forest Service. Boggy-Glade is a solution looking for a problem.
John Hopkins
Cortez
Via email