Commission moves to abaondon county roads

Commission moves to abandon two portions of county road

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The county commissioners have moved to officially abandon portions of two roads in the Moskee area at the request of the landowner across whose property they run.

The two partial roads – the Cold Springs (County Road 21 or the Black & Yellow Road) and Lost Canyon (County Road 807) – cross Moskee Land Corporation property. At a hearing last week, the Crook County Commissioners heard responses to the objections that were filed in response to the request for abandonment from Michael Frey, on behalf of the corporation.

“We received a number of written objections. We received no dollars-and-cents claimed for…damages, so therefore no viewers and appraisers were appointed to assess damages,” said County Attorney Joe Baron as the hearing began.

Frey began by commenting that the road was first created in 1902 in response to a petition from three ranches that are now a part of the corporation’s property.

Those ranch owners wanted to be able to access town, Frey said, and that was the intent of the road. That intent, he said, no longer exists.

Frey also discussed one of the major reasons for the request to abandon the road: trespassers. A lot of trespassing takes place with many citations issued, he said, “And we’re not catching them all”.

Interestingly, not a single resident of Crook County has been subject to one of these citations, he said; they are primarily issued to South Dakota residents. He said he feels it creates an unsafe environment on the land as the road acts as an open door to the rest of the property.

“It’s not a great feeling to be in the middle of nowhere and come across a trespasser – we had one yesterday,” he said.

Sheriff Jeff Hodge supported this claim, saying that his deputies have chased trespassers making honest mistakes and some who were not.

“It’s taking officers three to four hours to deal with one trespasser – if we can catch them on the 27,000 acres that they’re running around on up there,” he said.

“I don’t blame [the landowners] for not wanting to confront these people.”

Hodge described the problem as time-consuming for landowners and said it has become “almost nonstop” after increasing over the last couple of years.

Frey also told the commission that he would be responding to the nine letters of objection and the specific concerns within them. The first he tackled was a comment that one of the neighbors does not want to lose those roads as a potential back route into their property.

However, said Frey, there appears to have been a misunderstanding as the neighbor would need to trespass to get from the road to their land.

Frey also spoke to a concern that came up more than once in the comments: fire access. He argued that a fire prevention plan has been in place for many years and he is aware of the need – 600 acres of the Fish fire was on Moskee Land Corporation land, for example.

The easement for access would be exactly the same as it is now, he said, and the road will be maintained as usable for firefighting access.

On the day of Fish fire, Frey said, all the gates were opened, and a key to the gates has been provided. He also noted that a standing order exists that firefighters need not worry about gates and fences as those can be replaced.

“Of course it’s in our best interests to have unfettered access for firefighters,” he said.

Another comment that was repeated several times in the comments was that the Black & Yellow Road provides the only public access to a large area of public U.S. Forest Service land. Frey responded that this is not true: the road only travels to a gate that has been locked for at least 18 years and is not on the Forest Service’s 2022 motor vehicle use map.

Ralph Goodson, author of one of the letters of objection and also present in the audience, called into question whether the commission should be thinking of the future rather than the present.

“Is there never going to be a need for public access in this area?” he asked.

A motion was passed to approve the petition and abandon the portions of road as requested.