Re: Gail Fry & Jennifer Foster_Character Assasins

Jennifer would have loved the Juniper flats I bought land in. No fences. Although there was a lot of controvercy over the public access to public lands, it was centered around the Bowen Ranch. This controversy remains today. The fence that was recently stolen in Juniper Flats in no way impeded legal access to public lands. It blocked no roads or designated trails. There is a fence across the road that provided free public access to the Deep Creek Hot Springs area today, erected with public money. Why has the free public access route that existed been blocked? To provide the ruler of the Bowen Ranch with the main access (for a fee) to public lands in the area. John Ware.....Gary Crower.....Mike Castro......different characters, same scenerio.

I do aggree on the issue of free access to public lands. I happen to like multiple use and feel it should be provided in a responsible way. We can love our public land to death and the erosion on J1299 is a good example. The WEMO effort focused on one user group and virtualy ignored all others in my opinion. The ACEC areas were excluded from WEMO planning due to management plans with route designations already in existance. J1299 was never allowed under the current ACEC management plan.

Hotspringers, hunters,fisherman, hikers, motorcycle riders, 4 wheel drivers,birdwatchers and lookyloos all accessed the public lands via the Moss Ranch Road for decades prior to its closure by the ruler of the Bowen Ranch in recent times. Why hasn't Jennifer's voice spoken on THIS issue during closed door WEMO planning sessions? The controvercy over access to the hotsprings continues.

The range improvement fences are there to protect the private landowners from lease cattle damaging their property. I have experienced waking up to a range bull grazing in my front yard. I had a small child at the time. Yes, they are erected with funds supplied by the BLM. Property owners and cattle ranchers pay taxes too and good fences make good neighbors within a cattle lease. Unfortunatly, these fences have been vandalized to the point that the BLM denied the lease holder access to the range in 2004. When these fences get vandalized by recreational ab users, locals are unhappy for very good reasons.

Maybe Jennifer and Katrina can focus their efforts on restoring free public access to the popular Deep Creek area on the old Moss Ranch Road and leave them other fences to the cattle as long as the lease is in effect. The cattle fences are blocking no roads.