The Grand Junction Sentinel got in touch with Executive Director Ronni Egan for her comments on an anti-government movement in the southwest part of Colorado that objects to a Forest Travel Plan (or, it seems, any and all forest travel plans).
By Gary Harmon
Saturday, March 26, 2011
DOLORES — A “spiderweb” of trails and off-highway-vehicle routes on parts of the San Juan National Forest needs to be cleaned up, forest officials say.
Critics of the plan, however, see more than a mere tug at the web as the U.S. Forest Service tries to soften the human footprint — and tire tracks — on the forest.
So angry are some that they appropriated the venerable Smokey Bear mascot of the Forest Service and transformed him into “Smok-E the Bandit,” dressed up as a highwayman complete with mask and firearm. He’s backed by an American flag, Colorado flag and the Gadsden flag, the banner adopted by the tea party movement, emblazoned with a coiled rattlesnake and the words, “Don’t tread on me.”
The full story: Some in southwestern Colorado want forest plan axed | GJSentinel.com.