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The ranger with a big range

BLM welcomes Fouss to Tres Rios district
Tyler Fouss covers a huge area in his new duties as a Bureau of Land Management ranger for the Tres Rios office.

Tyler Fouss is the new law enforcement ranger for the Bureau of Land Management’s Tres Rios field office.

Fouss has been a BLM ranger in the Montrose area, for the Moab district, and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Although the Tres Rios headquarters is near Dolores, his duties take him all over Southwest Colorado.

In a recent interview, he discussed his job and its challenges.

“My whole law enforcement career started with the BLM,” he said. “I’ve always had a big desire to protect the public lands we all enjoy.”

He and other rangers patrol BLM lands across several counties – a vast district stretching from Dove Creek to Cortez and Durango to Silverton. Fouss also patrols Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.

“We keep very busy and get to see a lot of beautiful country along the way,” he said.

Duties run the gamut, from public education and volunteering to patrolling, investigating crimes and making arrests.

Protecting natural and cultural resources is a key focus of Fouss’ job. He spends time acclimating the public to new BLM rules and also to the proper protocols for viewing ruins and artifacts.

One new rule is in the Sand Canyon/East Rock area of the monument, where hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers now must stay on designated trails.

“It is a new rule, and there is a learning curve, so we’re doing a lot of public education,” Fouss said, adding that issuing warnings is the next step.

Logging, artifact collection

The policy of no firewood gathering on the monument has been in place for years but still is being violated.

“It is an ongoing problem we’re working to correct,” Fouss said. “Last year we ticketed people, and now there is another significant area where illegal firewood gathering is taking place.”

Also, a generational shift in how the public views surface artifacts still is unfolding, he said. Older adults recall when arrowhead hunting and pot sherd collecting was the norm, but those activities are illegal.

“It is considered theft from public lands,” Fouss said. “Look at it, photograph it, and leave it where you found it for future generations to enjoy.”

Motorized recreation

Off-highway vehicle use dramatically is increasing nationwide and on local BLM lands. In the Silverton area, BLM rangers have stepped up enforcement of laws requiring OHVs to stay on designated roads.

The Alpine Loop from Silverton to Lake City and back gets 300,000 visitors per year traveling through sensitive high-elevation tundra.

To help, the BLM partnered with the San Juan County sheriff’s office to train and hire Alpine rangers who also patrol and enforce the OHV rules.

“Our presence up there has dramatically reduced the off-road travel going on,” Fouss said. “It took a lot of enforcement early on, and now the public knows where they’re allowed to go and that we are monitoring.”

Fouss emphasized that BLM rangers have a lot of discretion when deciding to issue tickets for violations, depending on their severity.

“Sometimes public education will gain us the most ground,” he said. “We often take the approach of educating on why we have laws protecting cultural and natural resources.”

The BLM relies on the general public to report suspicious behavior. It also encourages reporting of significant artifacts that are found or if they see that a ruin is threatened.

The dinosaur case

Fouss recalls a case he investigated near Moab, Utah, involving a person who stole a fossilized dinosaur track from the Sand Flats area. The 190 million-year-old track was a popular site for tourists and guides.

The investigation was given a boost when an anonymous tip provided additional information that led to the conviction of Jared Ehlers, who reportedly threw the track off the Dewey Bridge into the Colorado River.

Dive teams were dispatched, but it never was recovered.

“The BLM offered a reward, and local outfitters added to the pot, bringing it up to $9,000,” Fouss said. “Thanks to a member of the public coming forward, we got a conviction.”

jmimiaga@ cortezjournal.com



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