{"id":2447412,"date":"2019-08-11T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=311078"},"modified":"2019-08-12T10:30:02","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T16:30:02","slug":"intensive-forest-service-patrols-in-aspen-area-on-then-off-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/intensive-forest-service-patrols-in-aspen-area-on-then-off-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Intensive Forest Service patrols in Aspen area on then off again"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Wilderness Ranger Eric Tierney restores an illegal campfire ring next to the Snowmass Lake trail while out on patrol in 2017.<\/strong>
Aspen Times file photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Pitkin County commissioners heard an outline of the nebulous idea Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Because of difficulty with \u201cinappropriate\u201d camping this summer in the Maroon Creek Valley, the Castle Creek Valley, along Lincoln Creek Road and in other areas up Independence Pass, the U.S. Forest Service wanted to import law enforcement officers from surrounding areas to conduct an intense, multi-day \u201csaturation patrol\u201d of those areas, said Phyllis Mattice, assistant Pitkin County manager.<\/p>\n

Those caught creating or camping in illegal, dispersed sites or misusing established sites would be kicked out during the patrols, which would last until midnight, Mattice said.<\/p>\n

The Forest Service wanted Pitkin County to pay for the operation using money the county had already given the strapped federal agency to pay for two seasonal law enforcement positions that were not filled this summer, she said.<\/p>\n

By Friday, however, the proposed patrols had been canceled, said Shelly Grail, recreation manager for the Aspen-Sopris Ranger District. She said she received an email Thursday night from a Gunnison-based Forest Service law enforcement officer calling off the operation, though she didn\u2019t know the reasons behind it.<\/p>\n

Chris Mandrick, the Forest Service\u2019s Aspen-based law enforcement officer, confirmed Friday that the operation had been canceled for the time being, though he said he couldn\u2019t speak about it on record without permission.<\/p>\n

Ken Pearson, the Forest Service\u2019s regional patrol commander in Denver, declined to give that permission.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it\u2019s kind of sensitive,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t fully understand what\u2019s going on myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Gunnison-based law enforcement officer did not return a phone message Friday seeking comment.<\/p>\n

The problems apparently relate mainly to excess human waste in the camping areas, some of which are next to rivers and streams, though illegal sites are a problem too, Mattice told commissioners Tuesday during their regular weekly work session. For example, Forest Service officials recently caught the owner of Sprinter van cutting away brush to make a parking space for vehicle, she said.<\/p>\n

In addition to Maroon, Castle and Lincoln creeks, officials also are dealing with \u201ca lot of overuse of the day area at Difficult\u201d Campground east of Aspen, Mattice said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to do an intense \u2026 kind of like a sweep,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Grail said Forest Service officers are seeing fires left unattended and people attempting to live on National Forest land.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a lot of use in these areas and we need some help,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a new problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plan was to import two or three law enforcement officers from surrounding areas and conduct the patrols, Grail said. She did not know the specifics of how the operation might work. Mattice said she was told the operation would take place over a short period of a few days.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Patti Clapper said Tuesday she was concerned that Forest Service officers might use heavy-handed tactics during the patrols. A decade or so ago during a similar operation, Forest Service officers overreached their authority by illegally searching people and pulling cars over on Highway 82, she said.<\/p>\n

Clapper said she wanted to make sure Forest Service officers confined their operations to illegal camping and \u201cnot overstep their boundaries and harass people legally camping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nan Sundeen, the county\u2019s health and human services director, said Tuesday that she wanted anyone \u201crousted\u201d from a campsite to be given directions to the Day Shelter at the Health and Human Services Building next to Aspen Valley Hospital, where people can take showers and do laundry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are our people,\u201d Sundeen said. \u201cWe have people working here who have no place to sleep. It\u2019s gotten very difficult to (live) in this county.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mattice said part of the crowded camping problems might be the result of stricter enforcement of overnight parking and camping at the Intercept Lot at Brush Creek Road and Highway 82, and the Buttermilk parking lots.<\/p>\n

jauslander@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wilderness Ranger Eric Tierney restores an illegal campfire ring next to the Snowmass Lake trail while out on patrol in 2017.Aspen Times file photo Pitkin County commissioners heard an outline of the nebulous idea Tuesday. Because of difficulty with \u201cinappropriate\u201d camping this summer in the Maroon Creek Valley, the Castle Creek Valley, along Lincoln Creek […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2447412","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-24 19:57:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2447412"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2447424,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2447412\/revisions\/2447424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2447412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2447412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2447412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}