A property owner northeast of Durango who started building an unauthorized road on U.S. Forest Service lands last fall is now attempting to go through the proper channels, to the chagrin of some neighbors.
According to Forest Service spokeswoman Esther Godson, a property owner near the Aspen Trails subdivision started improving an existing but unmaintained road that leads to a cabin.
The old logging road, however, weaves on and off the property owner’s land and about 3,300 feet of national forest land. It is in a drainage known as Trew Creek, about 15 miles northeast of Durango near Lemon Reservoir.
Last fall, the Forest Service became aware of the construction, and upon investigation, it was found about 200 feet of road base had been laid and vegetation had been cleared off the path.
“It appears perhaps some larger trees were knocked down and there was some debris pulled up alongside of the road,” Godson said.
The Forest Service in October sent the landowner, Salvador Asebedo, a cease-and-desist order to stop all road building activities. Godson said no work has happened at the site since the letter was sent.
The Forest Service has since given Asebedo the option to reclaim the area or apply for an application for a special-use permit to finish the road under proper authorization and after a National Environmental Policy Act process.
Asebedo, contacted Thursday, said he is pursuing the special-use permit.
“We are working with the Forest Service and Army Corps of Engineers,” he said.
Asebedo said there was confusion about his property boundaries and where Forest Service land began. He said he accidentally contacted the Colorado State Forest Service, instead of the U.S. Forest Service, and got bad information.
Asebedo said it’s about 2 miles between a home he owns in the area and the cabin in question. He said improving the logging road is a far better option than creating a new road over his property, which would cause more damage.
“It’s not that we’re tearing up the road,” he said. “We’re putting in a road base, and going over the existing road. The damage will be minimal.”
Kara Hellige, senior project manager for the Army Corps of Engineers, said an initial survey of the area found that the work did not adversely impact Trew Creek and surrounding wetlands enough to warrant a full-on violation.
Steve Dejka, a resident in the area, said neighbors noticed the damage while out hiking, where it appeared bulldozers had taken down live trees, some as big as about 70 feet tall and 18 inches in diameter, and trees were dumped into Trew Creek. He said some neighbors became angry and complained to the Forest Service.
“That’s about a 25-foot road,” he said. “All the neighbors were saying, ‘It’s a travesty, someone is taking a bulldozer and pushing down live and dead trees.’”
The Forest Service’s Godson said Asebedo has been cooperative in the process. But, if the special-use permit is denied or falls through, “he will reclaim the land to Forest Service specification,” she said.
jromeo@durangoherald.com
