National-forest squatters spur call for restrictions
By Bob Berwyn
Special to The Denver Post
Nederland - Squatters who set up illegal campsites in national forests have become such a problem that Forest Service officials are considering limiting the use of forests near urban areas.
Among the possible changes: restrictions on camping, target shooting and off-road-vehicle use in places within a two-hour drive of urban areas.
"To some people, living on a national forest seems like a reasonable option," Forest Service recreation planner Francisco Valenzuela said. "Twenty years ago, it probably didn't seem like a big deal. But now, with more homes near the forests and more intense recreational use ... we're going to have to act."
The result is the Front Range Initiative, which will map forests near densely populated communities where forests are often used for short visits, much like the typical city park.
Forest Service officials say the plan is aimed at forests within a two-hour drive of an urban area, including the South Platte district of the Pike-San Isabel National Forest, the Boulder district of the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest and parts of the White River National Forest along the Interstate 70 corridor.
"It's a very specific plan: The primary point is to provide for the more urbanized types of recreation that the public wants," Valenzuela said.
The agency will consider changing camping, off-road-vehicle and target-shooting rules. Parts of some forests may become day-use only, and pet owners also may find new leash laws in effect, he said, adding that the type of camping associated with more remote backcountry areas may no longer be compatible with evolving demands on the land.
The agency wants to have new rules and restrictions in place by late next summer, said Brent Botts, one of the lead planners for the initiative. He said he'll travel around the state the next few months, discussing the plan with hiking clubs, off-road groups and other interested citizens. Currently, national forest supervisors in the state are scrutinizing a draft version.
A squatter's story
It's clear that use of urban forests has spiraled, but the squatter numbers are hazier. Rangers and citizens who participate in a Forest Watch program around Nederland said they've been pulling truckloads of trash out of the woods with increasing frequency, and Valenzuela frankly described finding nauseating piles of human waste in some spots.
Reducing or eliminating long- term camping in some areas is expected to help.
Marc "Frenchy" Desmarais freely admits that he spends most of his time living in national forests, including in a designated campsite along West Magnolia Road in the Arapaho- Roosevelt National Forest near Nederland. Desmarais said he's camped here for several weeks or months every summer for the past five years.
As the pungent smoke from his campfire mingles with the scent of evergreens, Desmarais scuffs his foot along the ground and recounts a down-but-not- out hard-luck story that includes jail time, tragic loss and disease.
The 40-year-old shares the West Magnolia site with a small group of younger men and women, as well as several dogs and a pet rat. One of the campers is a 17-year-old runaway from Denver who said she was recently ticketed for camping illegally in a city-owned park.
Desmarais said he's not in favor of tightening camping regulations in urban forests.
"The whole purpose of people coming out here is to get away from the rules of the cities," Desmarais said. "We usually stay two weeks every year and then move," he added, alluding to a Forest Service rule that limits campers to 14-day stays at any one site.
"Proactive" effort urged
"With the changes we've seen in society in the last few decades, the face of public lands have also changed," said Paul Krisanits, the Forest Service law enforcement ranger who patrols the agency's Boulder district, one of the hot spots when it comes to camping policies. "The Forest Service has to be proactive."
And the problem isn't just on the Front Range; resort communities in Summit County face the same issue.
It's "more acute where we have a high cost of living, around Jackson (Wyoming) and other resort towns," said Steve Sherwood, director of recreation, heritage and wilderness resources with the Forest Service's regional Lakewood headquarters.
"The bottom line for us is, these are the people's lands. They were not established to allow people to set up long-term residency," he said.
Rangers and volunteers recently teamed to clean up campsites near Frisco, and Forest Service rangers say they've made some progress.
"We can make people leave, but they'll most likely just move somewhere else," said Ken Waugh, recreation staff officer for the Dillon Ranger District.
He said the agency needs to work with nearby communities, but squatters aren't high on the list of priorities for some officials in Summit County.
"There's nothing we can do. It's the same crew of people living in the woods every year," said Mary Martin of the county's social services department. "We try to encourage them to go to a larger city where there are shelters."
"A homeless shelter? That's not what they want," said County Commissioner Gary Lindstrom. They're day laborers. They're making money. They're not committing crimes."
Local concerns
While some want to address the issue head-on, not everyone agrees that it's a major problem.
"I guess I'm just a little less judgmental," said Rob Savoye, a computer consultant who lives near Rollinsville and a member of the Forest Watch citizens group formed to help the Forest Service monitor the area. "I've lived at these sort of camps and spent a lot of time on the road. It's a complex, diverse group of people living in the woods.
"If you consider things like mining, oil and gas drilling and clear-cutting, in the scope of things, we don't have a real big problem," he said of the squatters. "Some of these people, they've got to be somewhere. ... The best thing you can do is give them maps to the recycling center and trash bags."
Other neighbors see a larger issue.
"I don't believe using the national forests as unsupervised homeless shelters is the way to solve the homeless problem," said Bob Mellette, another Forest Watch volunteer who has lived about 5 miles north of Nederland for 13 years.
Cracking down on transients "exports the problem from Boulder to Nederland," Mellette said. "What the panhandlers do is hitchhike up the highway from Boulder and sleep in my backyard."
Volunteer and Nederland resident Paul Neiman acknowledges that conditions have improved somewhat since the patrols started.
The fire at Desmarais' camp was attended, but just a few hundred yards away, Neiman found a smoldering log in a recently vacated site.
He sees an imminent fire threat, not only to his nearby home, but to all of Nederland: "They're holding this town hostage."
By Bob Berwyn
Special to The Denver Post
Nederland - Squatters who set up illegal campsites in national forests have become such a problem that Forest Service officials are considering limiting the use of forests near urban areas.
Among the possible changes: restrictions on camping, target shooting and off-road-vehicle use in places within a two-hour drive of urban areas.
"To some people, living on a national forest seems like a reasonable option," Forest Service recreation planner Francisco Valenzuela said. "Twenty years ago, it probably didn't seem like a big deal. But now, with more homes near the forests and more intense recreational use ... we're going to have to act."
The result is the Front Range Initiative, which will map forests near densely populated communities where forests are often used for short visits, much like the typical city park.
Forest Service officials say the plan is aimed at forests within a two-hour drive of an urban area, including the South Platte district of the Pike-San Isabel National Forest, the Boulder district of the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest and parts of the White River National Forest along the Interstate 70 corridor.
"It's a very specific plan: The primary point is to provide for the more urbanized types of recreation that the public wants," Valenzuela said.
The agency will consider changing camping, off-road-vehicle and target-shooting rules. Parts of some forests may become day-use only, and pet owners also may find new leash laws in effect, he said, adding that the type of camping associated with more remote backcountry areas may no longer be compatible with evolving demands on the land.
The agency wants to have new rules and restrictions in place by late next summer, said Brent Botts, one of the lead planners for the initiative. He said he'll travel around the state the next few months, discussing the plan with hiking clubs, off-road groups and other interested citizens. Currently, national forest supervisors in the state are scrutinizing a draft version.
A squatter's story
It's clear that use of urban forests has spiraled, but the squatter numbers are hazier. Rangers and citizens who participate in a Forest Watch program around Nederland said they've been pulling truckloads of trash out of the woods with increasing frequency, and Valenzuela frankly described finding nauseating piles of human waste in some spots.
Reducing or eliminating long- term camping in some areas is expected to help.
Marc "Frenchy" Desmarais freely admits that he spends most of his time living in national forests, including in a designated campsite along West Magnolia Road in the Arapaho- Roosevelt National Forest near Nederland. Desmarais said he's camped here for several weeks or months every summer for the past five years.
As the pungent smoke from his campfire mingles with the scent of evergreens, Desmarais scuffs his foot along the ground and recounts a down-but-not- out hard-luck story that includes jail time, tragic loss and disease.
The 40-year-old shares the West Magnolia site with a small group of younger men and women, as well as several dogs and a pet rat. One of the campers is a 17-year-old runaway from Denver who said she was recently ticketed for camping illegally in a city-owned park.
Desmarais said he's not in favor of tightening camping regulations in urban forests.
"The whole purpose of people coming out here is to get away from the rules of the cities," Desmarais said. "We usually stay two weeks every year and then move," he added, alluding to a Forest Service rule that limits campers to 14-day stays at any one site.
"Proactive" effort urged
"With the changes we've seen in society in the last few decades, the face of public lands have also changed," said Paul Krisanits, the Forest Service law enforcement ranger who patrols the agency's Boulder district, one of the hot spots when it comes to camping policies. "The Forest Service has to be proactive."
And the problem isn't just on the Front Range; resort communities in Summit County face the same issue.
It's "more acute where we have a high cost of living, around Jackson (Wyoming) and other resort towns," said Steve Sherwood, director of recreation, heritage and wilderness resources with the Forest Service's regional Lakewood headquarters.
"The bottom line for us is, these are the people's lands. They were not established to allow people to set up long-term residency," he said.
Rangers and volunteers recently teamed to clean up campsites near Frisco, and Forest Service rangers say they've made some progress.
"We can make people leave, but they'll most likely just move somewhere else," said Ken Waugh, recreation staff officer for the Dillon Ranger District.
He said the agency needs to work with nearby communities, but squatters aren't high on the list of priorities for some officials in Summit County.
"There's nothing we can do. It's the same crew of people living in the woods every year," said Mary Martin of the county's social services department. "We try to encourage them to go to a larger city where there are shelters."
"A homeless shelter? That's not what they want," said County Commissioner Gary Lindstrom. They're day laborers. They're making money. They're not committing crimes."
Local concerns
While some want to address the issue head-on, not everyone agrees that it's a major problem.
"I guess I'm just a little less judgmental," said Rob Savoye, a computer consultant who lives near Rollinsville and a member of the Forest Watch citizens group formed to help the Forest Service monitor the area. "I've lived at these sort of camps and spent a lot of time on the road. It's a complex, diverse group of people living in the woods.
"If you consider things like mining, oil and gas drilling and clear-cutting, in the scope of things, we don't have a real big problem," he said of the squatters. "Some of these people, they've got to be somewhere. ... The best thing you can do is give them maps to the recycling center and trash bags."
Other neighbors see a larger issue.
"I don't believe using the national forests as unsupervised homeless shelters is the way to solve the homeless problem," said Bob Mellette, another Forest Watch volunteer who has lived about 5 miles north of Nederland for 13 years.
Cracking down on transients "exports the problem from Boulder to Nederland," Mellette said. "What the panhandlers do is hitchhike up the highway from Boulder and sleep in my backyard."
Volunteer and Nederland resident Paul Neiman acknowledges that conditions have improved somewhat since the patrols started.
The fire at Desmarais' camp was attended, but just a few hundred yards away, Neiman found a smoldering log in a recently vacated site.
He sees an imminent fire threat, not only to his nearby home, but to all of Nederland: "They're holding this town hostage."
