...but there's a disturbing new trend in river side law enforcement. See the below email that I just received from a friend who had a not-so-pleasant encounter with the BLM this weekend on the Bradfield Bridge section...
I just wanna give folks a heads-up on what the BLM is up to on the Lower Dolores River. There are a
couple of newbie law enforcement types who get hard-ons giving out citations for smoking and/or
possessing marijuana. Their tactics include lurking in the shadows of your camp & watching your
activities while around the campfire, etc. They are not adverse to searching without probable cause.
From what I can tell from talkin' to folks down there this past weekend, they wrote in the neighborhood
of 30-40 citations over the course of two evenings. It involves a fine of up to $250 and mandatory court
appearance in Durango.
What really kills me about this whole thing, is that the BLM wants $8/night to camp at both Bradfield &
Dove Creek Pumps. The campgrounds are completely trashed, especially DC Pumps. We spent over
an hour cleaning up broken glass, cig butts, garbage, etc before we could even think about setting up camp for the evening. So, apparently the BLM has enough money to hire a couple of dicks, but they
cannot afford to hire anyone to clean up the garbage dumps they call campsites.
Be careful down there folks......this crap needs to be stopped. If you have friends at the BLM, speak your
mind.
Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Livestock & Mining
Bureau of Lurking Marijuana Cops (well, in that case, we'd have to change the acronym at a Federal Level)
The BLM or DEA?
We were camped at the bradfield campground fri night. The 4 of us were chillin with some beers and green stuff. I noticed 3 folks creepin up and thought they were friends from another camp. All of the sudden flashlights, interogation and intimidation. We were all sighted even with them only finding one pipe and a gram of green. They searched me and threatened to rip apart my car...I almost lost it. I know of at least 15 others that were sighted that night. The next day we put on with maybe 100 other people. No BLM then to check for Groovers, Firpans, ETC. The river is gettin trashed but at least no one is gettin high. THIS MUST STOP
See the you other Violaters in Court...to quote the BLM "Stick to the Booze, son"
Fish
Such bullshit. Priorities all wrong. Reminds me of the post about the guys on the grand trip getting busted at the put in and they couldn't go on the trip.
Not sure why this is such a big issue when there are so many way more important things to be working on.
If the group has a firepan and a groove, is practicing leave no trace, and is not up in peoples face, let them have a good time in camp.
Raiding camps if rediculous. The reason I go on float trips is so I can get way far away from any of that kind of bullshit.
Anyone know what is the BLM email that we should send complaints to?
Thanks FISH
'Ranger Rick' at the email above is who I was told to contact. My girlfriend and I were the first victims of the harrassment on Friday night and I sent an email earlier today.
2 things to do.
A. E-mail ranger Dick to no end. Send him 5 emails in a day. Then more
B. If you were busted... plead not guilty and then ask for a jury trial. It will waste some of your time, but more importantly it will waste the judges time and the BLM officers time. The judge will get sick of the cases taking up so much of his/her time that they will hopefully toss out the rest of the cases.
What a bunch of creepy cops.
Damn boaters causing harm to yourselves in the name of fun. Why don't you go poach a trophy elk or fish with out a license, slash that huge RV's tires and take a motorized vehicle into the wilderness.
__________________ I guess now we know why they call them rapids and not slowpids. - N. Flanders
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