By Bill LaCroix, Victor
Regarding Gash Creek Road: After hearing about how bad the Forest Service thought Gash Creek Road was in relation to all the other Bitterroot Face roads that are in similar to equally-bad shape each and every spring, a bee in the back of my bonnet suggested that this “emergency” was baked up by the relatively-new residents who chose to build their houses along that PUBLIC road. Sure enough, thanks to the Bitterroot Star article I just read, I find that the bee was right.
I live on Sweathouse Creek at the base of Gash Creek Canyon and this dire emergency on this road that I have used for decades is literally in my back yard and–surprise–there is no emergency. There is a Montana, though, where mountain roads get challenging every spring.
I have watched these new owners come in over time, buying up the inholdings the Forest Service should have incorporated into the public domain back in the 80’s but didn’t, building homes in the middle of highly-flammable landscapes, receiving (make a guess of how many) thousands of dollars each time a fire threatens them, and then hanging “no trespassing” and “no parking” signs all over the trees, as if they own that road–which of course they don’t.
The “T” at the junction of Gash Creek and Bear Creek Overlook (South Gash Creek) road was the traditional place to park one’s vehicle during the winter to avoid getting stuck. Now there is a sign informing us that the adjacent landowner has decreed that he or she is the sole arbiter of who can park there or who can’t. This has been wrong for too long and needs clarification from the Forest Service as to exactly how much of the public’s right-to-access did it think it gave away to these landowners who maybe felt they were “getting away from it all” and then–too late, I guess–realizing they had built their (usually very flammable) homes right in the middle of a public access road that people have been using for decades.
So here are the questions I have for the Stevi Ranger District: what’s the right-of-way width for Gash Creek Road? Can you specify that on these visually obnoxious signs you’re adding to the already-too-many “no trespassing” signs up there so we all know just exactly how far away from the center-line our tires can legally sit? Then if we feel you have given away too much, you’ll hear from us in an informed manner. I think this would help forest users and landowners alike. As most of us who’ve been around here awhile know, people buy property without realizing what they’re getting into (the county sure doesn’t give them the news!) and then follows the conflict.
Public access is getting more and more constricted and conflicted due to the timidity of public officials (county and federal), the ignorance of landowners and–yes–the abuses of forest users. P.S. Consider this a personal rant at everyone abusing our forest commons. More information, more better, but god, this is getting old.