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O · ... - - . ' q>ilD10n- . '- Letters lol,~_1 AC;"i Sand Dunes Park pulls heart strings for new Baca Water Scheme, an open letter to Saguache County Commissioners ~The public access to these ,wilderness Fore-st. Service trail heads. and to the historic north en. . .trance to the Dunes Monument boundary is not even proposed. but, ratheT conspicuously avoided. even at a $50- to $100 million- acquisitionldevel- . opmcnt pri~e t~g. Ac~css is not even proposed. .:, Current bIdding on Just the Baca Ranch acquisi- tIOn exceeds $35 mllhon-over twice what Gary and Joann Boyce recently paid for the struggling ranch. Y ct, the most scenic part of the Baca Ranch near Liberty and the north Dunes Monument bound- a"ry," historically available to public access, is not mentioned in Mr. Stewart's park plan. Small woneer that Ralph Curtis, current administrator ofthe Federal $100 million plus. 100,000 acre-feet pcr year "Closed Basin" water .project" "is' not" at. liberty. te say" who is behind thIS new propesed Federal Park project. . - .;' Regaining public access to the nerth Dune road : would heighten public awareness ef any future ...yater.pipe construCtion p.Tojects over or .toward . the low Medan Pass, an obvious future route of ~h~icc ~orwa~er exporters, Federal or private-such route.now bemg confirmed by the fallacious Park . proposa I. ; .. Since the hfstoric use and access by the publicfor .over 20 years to Liberty and the north Dunes boundary can :easily be established, and since access could easily be obtained at a minimal cost of advertising public hearings in the paper and a vote by. the Saguache County Commissioners for a r~solution favoring reopeningthe north Sand Dune Road to the .public. The more times the ranch is sold. the more difficult. it will be to regain the : historic use .of these pack .trails aRd the north Dune access route. ... I encourage the elected Saguache County Com. .missioners to not be intimidated by illegal posting . and new locked gates across historic public access . ronds. Future ow~crs of the Baca ranch may be even lesR conscrvatlOn and public minded than are current owners. Re-cstablishing public access to these historic areas would cost Saguache County I little or nothjn~.and lies within the legal authority and.rcsponslblhty of the Countv Commissioners. Voicing opposition to the Fcde-Tnl acquisition of the B~cn Rnnch and the subsequent reduction of the private property tax base. as the Commission- ers have ~onc, IS a good st~rt, but doing something construe~lve about the sItuation is even better, ~hc fortltudc of t,he Sagu~che County Commis- sIOners could pOSSibly prOVIde more public benefit than $100 million in tax dollars. I formally propose that the Saguache County Commlss.lOnC'rs r~solvc to begin public hearings to r~.estabhsh the hIstoric public access to the north SIde .of the. Sand D.uncs Monument and Forest ServIce trad heads Illegally denied the public by the Baca Ranch. Let there be hbeny and justice for all. This proposal respectfully submitted by Don Rebin Hood ' Saguache \) ".....-..' On Wednesday, December 8, the Saguache County Commissioners were introduced to efforts toward proposed Federal legislation to double the size afthe Sand Dunes Nntional Monument. One of the' central benefits attrihuted to the $50. to . $150 million project is to .'provide the public with greater access from both the west and cast sides of the current" Dune's Monument." Another central benefit attributed to the Federal Government ac- quiring the Bacn. ranch is to "protect the vast underlying sand loyer'.' extendi ng throughout most of the nat land of the Baca Ranch_ Current Federal rnanagers and proposed project planners express no opposition .to the current rnnssivcpumping of this same sand layer in stages three and four of the Closed Basin Federal Project. It is difficult to imagine what form of "protection" .the expanded Federal ownership will provide .to . this vast sand layer; or how this sand layer extend. ing for miles could be harmed in a greater fashion than by current and proposed massivewaterpump- iog and ~xport. . . Presently, the Dunes Monument boundary lies one to two miles west of.the actual Sand Dunes. The proposed "greater public access: to the west . ,side of the Dunes could be provided with. no acqui. , 'sition cost 'for land.. only construction cost com. . niensu'rate with the quality of road access desired- p"ved,>foli~-whei!l-drive, ba:lloon'tire bus, hover craft tours'or'othcr~- J"'..', ..., . " . ; The cxisting.eadacccS!iover Medano Pass cur- , ren'tly' provides scenic recreational access to jeeps, . S,tJVs, 'and four.wheel-drive pick.ups amounting to over 100 vehicles on'a busy summer weekend. . rh', Cac.t; Sand Dune. Monument staff 'are more concerned "that. vehicles:.. using this four. wheel. drive.back entrance have liability insurance, reg- istration and' licensed drivers; rather than con- cern with too' m'uch or too little access. Normal F,orest Service 'and Dune Monument maintenance . on this route has undoubtedly been ongoing for .' . decades as with most recreational four-wheel drive public roads in the state. Dune visitors, even the handicapped. or invalid currently ride the conve. nient balloon tire tour bus to the eastern boundary . of the Dune Monument near Medana Pass. To develop this one lane .dirt highway. as the "park expansion plan" proposes to do, arouses more than just suspicions of yet another waterway pipeline' project. .Everyone already has good access. Dion Stewart. Chairman of a citizen committee pursuing the conversion of the Dun'es Monument to 8f.1 enlarged National Park is strangely silent a bout the retrieval and repair of the historic access to thci north, and most scenic side, of the Dunes. This same historic access serves Forest Service traikheads at FS 743 Sand Creek Trail and FS 878 Pole Creek Trail and others including Dead Man Lakes. . /"''''.'"" t. .. ~ . , . \~ '-'<;'''';/ ....._.,,~,.