Posting of No Trespassing on Forest Service Roads and Lands.....

[WAcoyotehunter]

I know of at least three different families that moved to the Methow from the west side in the last 30 years and posted USFS land as private property-No Trespassing, has kept some of the people out during hunting season.

One of them owns land on one side connected to USFS, he actually keeps a pretty good eye on his "private USFS" land, he has run off quite a few people with his arrogant attitude. I was falling some hazard trees for his neighbor one time, he come running up, and started in on me, I told him I would call the sheriff and let them straighten his problem out, shut him right up.

Gebbers are closing lots of roads in the Chiliwist and lower valley through the County Commissioners.  They have figured out a way to get the county to abandon roads and they gate them. 

[baldopepper]

If you think it's a problem now, wait until they make it legal to just spray paint orange to mark no trespassing. I can think of several places in Utah where someone with a can of paint has easily used it to discourage those who aren't familiar with the property.  Unlike a posted sign these paint jobs last for years and years. Not sure onx or gps works unless your phone has service and many of these areas are out of service areas so I think hard to check while there. 

[cbond3318]

Ive never been fortunate enough to have some d bag come and try to run me off public land. Some guys have all the luck.     

Someday I hope.

[KB88]

OnX has an offline option. Still works as needed

[skeeter 20i]

Ive never been fortunate enough to have some d bag come and try to run me off public land. Some guys have all the luck.     

Someday I hope.

What part of Idaho are you in?  If you're in the panhandle I can take you to one this weekend for sure.  He comes out to "greet" me every time I park the truck and start walking in, we usually exchange well wishes as I move on thru.

[Skyvalhunter]

Well as "well what the he'll are you doing here again"?

[wolfbait]

I know of at least three different families that moved to the Methow from the west side in the last 30 years and posted USFS land as private property-No Trespassing, has kept some of the people out during hunting season.

One of them owns land on one side connected to USFS, he actually keeps a pretty good eye on his "private USFS" land, he has run off quite a few people with his arrogant attitude. I was falling some hazard trees for his neighbor one time, he come running up, and started in on me, I told him I would call the sheriff and let them straighten his problem out, shut him right up.

Gebbers are closing lots of roads in the Chiliwist and lower valley through the County Commissioners.  They have figured out a way to get the county to abandon roads and they gate them.

That's kind of a different deal, Gebber's own bother sides of the road, and I believe they do the maintenance on some of those roads. Would be different if that was the only road going through, but it's not the case.


Don't know if this happens much in other areas, but the last forty years in the Methow, seems the first thing people do when they buy a chunk of land is throw up the No Trespassing signs and there are several that post land they don't own, including sections of the river. Funny thing, they don't mind hunting on land that they don't own and is posted, hell they will even fix the fences so their critters can run on private range, gutsy people.

[fireweed]

This doesn't surprise me.  These companies, are in a lot of cases, royally bluffing the public on their signs on roads.  Each road almost has to be challenged and investigated, and sometimes other timber companies have made permit charging companies roll back their closures.  On the west side Weyerhaeuser has incorporated many parcels of state land into their permit access area.  When confronted about the fact that these DNR lands have easements on them, Weyerhaeuser claimed that these easements were for forestry purposes only--which is the wording they carefully use NOW for easements. 

NEVER EVER trust what you are told.

I went and actually looked up some of these easements.  They are everywhere and the ones written before about 1980 have a standard language that says "This easement is conveyed for the purposes of construction, reconstruction, use and maintenance of a road or roads for the purpose of providing access to and from lands now owned or hereafter acquired by the State." 

I can't imagine how a member of the  public walking that road with that easement on their way to state land could possibly be considered a trespasser. 

These older documents do not specify that these easements are for forestry or administrative use only in any way.   If you find a parcel of DNR mixed in with Weyco or other permit for entry timber land, first, check the gate and see if it has a DNR lock, next visit the county auditor or DNR office and do some digging (counties are even putting these online and searchable) then read the actual text of the easement.  Roads with easements change a lot, but often refer to the "original language of the easement" when they change, even today.

I haven't asked the DNR what they think about hiking to these parcels with "access to state land" easements, and they may side with Weyco but the language of the easement is on the side of access. 

[509]

All Forest Service easements clearly state public access. BLM easements sometimes are for government purposes only.

[Alpine Mojo]

The best contact will be the USFS, they will sort it out with the timber company.

Yeah, I'm sure they will get right on it...

[fireweed]

I think that these blanket closures of land that timber companies are now installing might come back to bite them.  Washington state is pretty generous to private landowners in preventing so called "prescriptive easement/adverse possession" claims if both parties have behaved neighborly for years, letting crossings occur.  When the parties have a falling out, and the issue gets taken to court, a long standing policy of past neighborly behavior actually prevents a easement claim. 

But now with a wholesale closure of all land owned by these companies (in some cases HALF the land in a county!), there now is proof of hostility with a crossing, and no longer any neighborly accommodation by these large companies.  After so many years of your driveway (for example) being in a company's permit-required area, an easement seeker has a better claim since there is proof of hostility and adverse use between the parties (vs. neighborly accommodation).

Same thing probably holds for a logging road.