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Lands board: No illegal camps

Trash, fire and threats to wildlife listed as concerns
Jim Martindale walks away from trash left by homeless campers on Overend Mountain Park in 2012. The Natural Lands Preservation Advisory Board would like to see illegal camping on nearby public lands stopped.

A city advisory board took a strong stance against illegal camps on public lands Monday.

“We don’t want to encourage people to migrate here. ... I don’t think we want to be famous for being a mecca for this,” said Mark Smith, a member of the Natural Lands Preservation Advisory Board.

In a formal recommendation, the board urged the city to take effective steps to enforce the local bans on illegal camping on city-owned open space.

“It has never been the intent of this board, before acquisition or afterward, for these open spaces to be used for unauthorized camping activities or as a refuge for individuals seeking temporary housing space,” the draft recommendation said.

The recommendation also asked city government to work with La Plata County, the Bureau Land Management, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Forest Service to encourage enforcement on land adjacent to city land.

The issue has been in the spotlight in recent weeks after high-profile bear attacks on homeless campers.

The city is already actively enforcing the bans, and there are two park rangers who are in the city open space every day, said Cathy Metz, director of parks and recreation. The park rangers asked two code-enforcement officers to tag camps that look inhabited and give campers 48 hours to move out.

“We’ve been taking a more proactive approach,” she said.

As a result, many of the areas where camps are common are not on city property.

The board outlined many risks of illegal camping, including trash, fire danger and adverse effects on wildlife, while they refined their recommendation.

“It seems to be the worst thing that could happen to open space that has been purchased with open-space money is to burn it down,” said Ed Zink, a board member.

Some people, board members said, are uncomfortable recreating near those camping areas.

“When we have citizens who can’t use the land that’s been purchased for their recreation, it’s unacceptable,” Zink said.

Several board members also acknowledged the difficulties tackling the issue.

“It’s a big problem, we’re not suggesting the solution is to allow them to live on these spaces...There may be other solutions; we’re not involved in that process as a board,” he said.

The Collaboration of Caring Communities is holding a July 2 meeting with law-enforcement agencies to discuss homelessness issues and work on solutions.

mshinn@durangoherald.com



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