Green Lake Road gate situation continues to go unresolved

Forest Service advises public to not travel on this route

By Mark Reaman

While an Irwin area property owner has met with representatives of Gunnion County Public Works, the U.S. Forest Service and the Gunnison County Sheriff’s department, there is still no resolution over a gate erected on the road to Green Lake in early August. If nothing is settled soon, the Forest Service expects to take court action to try to open the road.

Property owner J.W. Smith said the volume of hikers and drivers this past summer moved him to take action. He, along with several property owners in the Ruby Mining District, had been inundated with hundreds of people and vehicles trampling over private property.

“There is no legal easement, no facilities for this amount of traffic and it is a liability for property owners to have a Disneyland-type crowd come through. It is not like the old days, where people were respectful and friendly,” he said shortly after putting up the gate.

On Friday, August 19, Smith met with Gunnison County Public Works director Marlene Crosby, Gunnison County sheriff Rick Besecker and USFS Gunnison district ranger John Murphy.

Smith explained that people were going off the road onto private property and impacting the natural resources in the area. Hikers were taking shortcuts in the meadows and trampling the vegetation.

Vehicles were putting in tracks on private property and getting stuck because they were not meant for four-wheel drive roads.

“We have no malice towards hikers but want a legal easement through the property so that the Forest Service is liable instead of the private property owners,” Smith explained. “We have had people scream at us with no desire to talk about the situation. A local promotional website is encouraging people to disregard the gate and go up to Green Lake across the properties. We want to find a suitable resolution, but the situation continues to just get worse.”

Smith cited the Final Environmental Impact Statement of the Gunnison Basin Federal Lands Travel Management Plan. “It says clearly that access to public lands across adjacent private lands is determined by the landowner. The plan reads, ‘Those routes that enter public lands by crossing private lands with no recorded legal authorization are not considered part of the federal public transportation system.’ We want a legal easement so liability is very clear,” said Smith. “We do not have that right now. The current map and the 2010 map are different and the Forest Service never acquired legal authorization that is stated in 2010 plan.”

Murphy said the Forest Service believes the public has a legal right to use the road across Smith’s land to access Forest Service property above the gate due to the historic use of the road. But the agency is currently discouraging use of the road until a resolution is reached.

So while Murphy would like a simple resolution to emerge, he said the agency is prepared to go to court to straighten out the issue.

“Marlene Crosby, Rick Besecker and I met with Mr. Smith on Friday,” Murphy said. “Mr. Smith would not agree to remove the gate and open the road to the public. I am going to attempt to convince Mr. Smith to open the road one more time and we will be sending Mr. Smith a letter this week. If Mr. Smith refuses to open the road to the public this situation will likely be resolved in the courts. We have hired a contractor to begin performing the research needed to take Mr. Smith to court. This could take a little time to resolve.”

While Murphy did not say how much time it would take to do the research, it was not expected to be completed this summer.

In a formal news release from the Gunnison Ranger District, the USFS said it was gathering information on the history of the road to determine its next move.

“The Green Lake Road, Forest System Road 826.1D, near Crested Butte, Colorado, has been gated and signed closed by a private landowner in opposition to the Forest Service’s position,” the release stated. “There are no alternative motorized routes that provide access to the area that includes Green Lake, Ruby Peak and Mt. Owen. The Forest Service has begun coordination with Gunnison County Sheriff, Gunnison County Road and Bridge Department, and Gunnison County Board of County Commissioners to work with the landowner to open the road. The Forest Service has begun to gather historical information on this road and to determine the appropriate next steps in addressing this closure.

“In the meantime the Forest Service advises the public to not travel on this route and suggests people to contact the Gunnison Ranger District with further questions,” the news release advised. “The road is shown as open to all motorized vehicles in the Gunnison Basin motor vehicle travel map.”

Marlene Crosby said the situation was a Forest Service issue so she was deferring to Murphy and his office.

Sheriff Rick Besecker said he sees the immediate situation as a civil issue between the property owners and the Forest Service. “From what I gathered, no one is absolutely certain of the legalities around that issue right now. At this point we’re peacekeepers,” he said. “If it is evident someone is committing criminal mischief or they threaten or assault someone up there, we have to step in. As far as a decision on whether it’s an open right-of-way or subject to closure, we don’t have any leverage in that. I do think people on all sides are putting sincere energy into trying to solve this dilemma.”

As for Smith, he hopes people hiking, driving or biking understand the current situation and don’t cross the gate until there is a solution to the current predicament. Green Lake can still be accessed by the Scarp Ridge Trail.