Longtime La Plata County resident Ed Zink is facing increasing criticism for illegally closing off access to a public road near Falls Creek, but it’s not clear what La Plata County or the Sheriff’s Office intend to do about it, if anything.
About a decade ago, Zink put up a gate near his sister’s property on County Road 203 at the entrance of a dirt road known as Falls Creek Road, which people have historically used to reach the U.S. Forest Service’s Falls Creek trail system.
The property was purchased about two years ago, and the gate was taken down by the new property owners after learning it was public. But the gate has since been reinstalled.
Zink over the years has argued it’s unclear if Falls Creek Road is truly open to the public, despite a 1979 court order that clearly states it is. And he says people who do travel up the dirt road are trespassing, and sometimes trashing the area.
Posted on the gate were signs with vague language that gave the appearance the road was private, such as “Private Property Access Restricted” and “Please be aware this is all private property both here and on top of the hill.”
But for years, people have called out Zink for putting up the gate and signs, arguing the road is public and people have a right to use it.
“What this means is that anyone who wants to use the road to access public lands will be intimidated into thinking that they would be trespassing if they go around the barricades,” said Adam Howell, who runs the Horse Gulch Blog.
The issue came to the forefront this past fall/winter when Zink posted additional signage farther up the road that warned people they were trespassing and security cameras were in place to capture violators in the act.
And it appears tensions have flared up yet again in recent weeks after Zink put up two more gates along the road and signs that indicated the trail was closed because of fire danger.
Megan Graham, spokeswoman for La Plata County, said the road in question is public, and to block access is a misdemeanor crime. County officials, however, have chosen not to make the issue a criminal matter.
Instead, Graham said the county would like the issue to be resolved through a civil process, which would require Zink to petition the county for the road to be closed, setting off a public process.
However, this process is incumbent on Zink filing the petition – a move he has no intention of doing.
“I’m not going to do anything,” Zink said. “I don’t think it’s up to me to resolve it.”
Graham said the county doesn’t have an alternative plan should Zink not pursue the civil route, which puts the issue at a bit of a standstill. She said, however, that conversations are evolving.
“The county’s position is the road should be open ... and we’ll certainly have a conversation with Mr. Zink about the behavior should he choose to not open the gate,” she said. “But this is all unrolling right now.”
While the road is considered public, it is not within La Plata County’s system of county roads.
Ironically, the fight over access to Falls Creek Road started in 1979 when Ed Zink’s father, John, sued for it to be a public road.
At the time, John Zink had to travel over his neighbor’s property to reach a water diversion he owned. But one neighbor, Oscar Sittner, wouldn’t let Zink cross his land, so Zink sued.
In August 1979, District Judge Frederic Emigh declared: “Falls Creek Road is hereby established as a public roadway” and that people are prohibited from “interfering with, harassing or stopping members of the general public from access to, across and along the roadway.”
Ed Zink says he hasn’t physically stopped anyone from traveling on the road. But, he has been contradictory in statements on his view on the issue.
Zink denied that he has blocked access to Falls Creek Road, and said, “I don’t have control whether the road is open or not.”
But, he admits he put up the gate at the base of the road to keep trespassers out, as well as the two additional gates in June, a move he said he made to keep people out of the area for risk of wildfires.
Zink said anyone using the road is trespassing, but he said people using the road are not committing a crime, a statement he did not clarify.
In a previous interview, Zink called the judge’s order declaring the road public as “nebulous” and said it would take additional legal hearings to clearly define what the road should be used for and who can use it.
“It’s not that simple,” he said. “If it was that simple, it’d be open.”
But, he said he won’t initiate that process.
And, Zink said while La Plata County considers Falls Creek Road a public road, the landowner on the other side of the valley, the U.S. Forest Service, says it isn’t.
“I’m caught in the middle because one agency says one thing and a different says another,” he said.
But the Forest Service does consider Falls Creek Road a public roadway, said Matt Janoviak, the Forest Service’s Columbine district ranger.
In fact, Janoviak said the Forest Service was able to find an even earlier document from 1886 declaring it a public road.
“We do think it’s a public road and that it’s never been abandoned,” Janoviak said.
Tom Williamson, a local attorney and advocate for keeping Falls Creek Road open, said the trail has been used for more than 100 years and is now an important connection between the Animas Valley and Falls Creek.
“It’s just wonderful,” he said. “It should not be lost.”
Williamson said La Plata County’s inaction forces a private citizen to spend thousands of dollars and countless hours embarking on litigation to resolve the issue.
“He knows it’s illegal,” Williamson said. “But he’s betting on the county and sheriff to say they can’t do anything. That’s his checkmate: ‘No one will sue me even though I’m wrong.’”
Williamson said Zink’s close ties in the community have given him a sort of favoritism or special exemption from being ticketed.
“It’s the job of public officials to enforce the public’s rights,” he said. “But the county is just laying down and rolling over. It’s Ed Zink’s county, and we just live in it.”
Zink, for his part, said he has no intention of taking the lead to resolve the matter.
“If I’m in violation, fine, write me a ticket,” he said. “If I’m not, then don’t hassle me.”
jromeo@durangoherald.com
