Local's Camper Talk in a Fire Town

[DLTooley]

The Durango 416 Fire has gotten across Hermosa Creek and now looks to be a major fire.

https://durangoherald.com/articles/...-size-675-more-residences-ordered-to-evacuate

The smoke is on again, off again here in Telluride, and we are close enough that the talk is ramping up.  I've heard twice now disparaging remarks about campers, one on a Sheriff post in a locals Facebook page, the other around town from an otherwise classy moderate conservative.

The worst was a comment in the Durango Herald attributing blame to campers and encouraging a law enforcement crackdown - on a Fire that was likely started by the Durango - Silverton rail line.

There is a definite bias here in Colorado, and it is being fostered.  I believe the folks doing it are those who have public land in their backyards which they seek domain over.  The rationalizations vary and are not always without basis.  What we need is balance.

Here's an article from an upscale 'lifestyle' mag in Denver that illustrates the point.

Danger in the Forest

 

[Moxadox]

On the other hand, on the little piece of Forest Service dispersed camping land in Northern Colorado where I'm camped now, in the past week I've seen two vehicle campers with literally piles of trash heaped up around their cars hauled off by official workers; I myself had to extinguish a large campfire abandoned by another camper. If we are to be treated with respect, we must behave in a respectable manner. Every "bad apple" makes all of us look bad....including the vast majority that fly silently under the radar, doing everything we can to truly leave no trace.

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[John61CT]

Only real solution - talking effectiveness, not morality - is armed vigilantes patrolling public land.

Preferably skilled snipers.

Any behaviour affecting the freedom of the community is a capital offense.

Hmm, what could go wrong?

 

[Moxadox]

Hahaaaaaa! How about sitting around the responsibly managed campfire toasting marshmallows and singing Kumbaya? (Just lean your assault rifle against that tree, there's a good lad :-D)

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[lenny flank]

Same ole story--it's ALWAYS a handful of shitheads who wreck everything for the rest of us.

 

[Deb_A]

It's not necessarily shitheads. Some people just don't know how to put out a fire the right way. Luckily, my father taught me at a very early age (around 5 yo) how to make sure your fire is completely dead so it doesn't come back to life after you leave.

I think a lot of the problem is people with drug and alcohol abuse problems and also very young kids who have gotten in to this lifestyle because it's "cool" and don't know jack shit about camping responsibly. I've camped all my life, and I've had to put out fires left by drunk kids out partying way too many times. Most of those kids were locals, so blaming it on nomads is just ludicrous.

But let me get this right -- Colorado and Wyoming are supposed to be states that don't like government interference, so now they're mad because the government doesn't have agents to check every single campfire in every single camping spot? Maybe we should call some of those park rangers back from the border and let them do their damned jobs.

 

[highdesertranger]

if there is a burn ban in effect, which there should be, then there should be zero campfires. if anybody see's someone violating a burn ban my advice is to turn them. wild fires are nothing to mess with. highdesertranger

 

[DLTooley]

It's a question of balance, we certainly need to do our part to educate for responsible behavior - but we need to also insist on being treated respectfully. Rationalizing harassing campers based on the activity of a few bad apples is the constitutional equivalent of domestic violence - and what our constitution is all about.

Perhaps the most effect we can have is to insist Forest enforcement does its job appropriately - yeah turning in fire breakers. Trash piles are pretty obvious even on a less than weekly inspection. We also don't need to make the naysayers case for them, acknowledge the problem but put the overreach first.

How we treat public land under the law is important. Theoretically, public land law is not all that different from indigenous approaches to land - save for oil, gas, and mineral rights - and actual practice.

I'm hoping that public lands that include native oversight, like the Bear's Ears, will help this - eventually. The strengthening legal cases for respect of tribal sovereignty are also a good thing.

 

[Moxadox]

Well said! Thank you.

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[John61CT]

But don't expect authorities to get the trash cleaned up. They might help facilitate but the good citizens need to do the actual cleaning up after the jerkwads if we want our privileges to last a bit longer.

 

[MrNoodly]

There are too many people who go out in the boonies to be free to act in ways they can't get away with in civilization. Some of the worst offenders are locals coming out to get wasted, make noise, dump furniture and appliances, etc.

 

[John61CT]

The only "sides" are good guys who clean up, and baddies who don't.

When the former let the latter overwhelm the situation we all get kicked iut.

No one said life was fair.

 

[DLTooley]

The entire San Juan National Forest is closed effective today, Stage 3 Fire restrictions.

How about we close down oil and gas, everywhere, too?