Re: Broken windows at Freedom trail head !

One way this issue of Mike Castro and his illegal toll business parasiting profits off of DCHS visitation could be stopped is real simple, everyone stop using the Bowen Ranch on their visits, and only use the open public routes around the Bowen Ranch, the best one circumventing it on the west side. Nobody " has " to pay and in essence by paying support this owner ( Mike Castro ) of a small private parcel of land in the area. If most people accessing DCHS in the Bowen Ranch vicinity did this, then Mike Castro's reason for buying the ranch in the first place ( easy tax free profits ) would be taken away. If large amounts of people did this I think it might put the BLM and the USFS in the position of having to improve the open route around the west side of the Bowen Ranch to the USFS parking lot on the Bowen Ranch trail, or, reopen and improve the old Moss Mill route which provided two wheel access to the USFS parking lot which was even easier as it cut south off the Bowen Ranch road at the end of the county maintained portion.The Moss Mill access route was an official public route for many years, but through influence from Mike Castro and the help of his corrupt BLM buddy Barry Nelson, Castro got this route closed. Even if they didn't improve the route it would to my mind have the importance of everybody by their actions showing that they won't be cowed, intimidated and pilfered of cash because of some theatening local small landowner whose property just happens to sit at a convient spot on the way to the public place of DCHS.

For myself, I stopped parking on the Bowen Ranch many years ago after learning of the many negative and threatening things Mike Castro was up to in terms of his various actions of intimidation to folks that merely chose to use open routes and access around Mike Castro's personal profit machine. Also the truth is when the Bowen Ranch was aquired by Mike Castro he deceptively undercut an effort by a group that he was part of " the friends of DCHS " who were originally intending on purchasing the property and using this land in a positive manner for the benifit of all DCHS visitors, and for the benifit of DCHS. This is the same Mike Castro who before he purchased the Bowen Property used to hang over at the Moss Mill east of the Bowen Ranch where there was an open public route at the time and was known to tell people that they should use that route ( the Moss Mill ), and that they didn't have to pay that " bad person " who occupied the the Bowen Ranch his toll fee. So I think we all should show support for this " original idea " of Mike Castro's, before he got taken over by the " easy tax free profit spell " that the Bowen Ranch represented, and we all should not pay this toll fee and thereby deny any local land owner of the Bowen Ranch the means to make money off of DCHS and take away their motivation to intimidate or vandalise visitors that choose other DCHS access options.

DCHS is on public lands and there are legal open public routes all the way to the USFS parking area on the Bowen Ranch trail. You don't pay any private landowner accessing DCHS from anywhere else, any other route but the Bowen Ranch. These are your public lands folks and as far as I'm concerned I will never use the Bowen Ranch or let its owner ( Mike Castro or otherwise ) intimidate me into paying them, or else! People should stop using the Bowen Ranch, stop supporting this illegal cash collection operation, and then work with the BLM and USFS to develop improved access options to the already long estabilished USFS parking lot on USFS trail 3W02 ( the Bowen Ranch trail ). The private property of the Bowen Ranch needs to go back to being a a place where its owner/s occupies their time with their own personal property issues, like was the case when the original Bowen family bought this land. Don't let the land owner of the Bowen Ranch 80 acre private parcel control your visits to your public lands and on top of that charge you to go to the public destination of DCHS. Boycott the Bowen Ranch, permanently. You all have the power to do this, its up to you. .



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2011 10:41PM by Wizard.