Re: spillway

Moss Mill Road has an easement across the Bowen Ranch property. This easement is recorded and is for ingress and egress. This easement belongs to the United States of America. The road has been used by the public for access for over 25 years.

The Bureau of Land Management have not been telling the truth about this easement and that has resulted in the conflict with Mike Castro. I have one of their own internal memos dated 9-25-89 that talks about this easement as being part of a land exchange to the Bureau of Land Management.

The Bureau of Land Management have allowed Mike Castro to illegally close the road. I do not know if Mike has another job. I know he used to work for his father. I believe that he is a confidential informant working for a government agency (possibly for the BLM).

I went to go and see Joyce Burk of the Sierra Club about some of these issues. Joyce Burk told me that she knew people in the Sierra Club who were afraid to go to Deep Creek due to Mike Castro and that she would help me. She then spoke to Ranger Barry Nelson and Tim Read at the BLM and sent me an email about their conversation. Excerpts follow:

I had quite a long phone conversation with Tim Reid, Barstow BLM Area Manager, and Barry Nelson, lead BLM ranger for the area. ....... He finds Mike Castro to be very helpful in making sure visitors to the Hot Springs don't dump trash or party in the area. Tim mentioned that he was working with the Forest Service to provide better services for that area due to the high number of visitors it received.

...... both the BLM and Mr. Moss find Mr. Castro a real asset since he does help to provide some security in a very lawless area. We may not agree with all of Mr. Castro's tactics and think of his parking fee as protection money. But as Barry reminded me yesterday, that is indeed what you pay when you go into any public parking area (protection money).