To the Editor:

Cellphone calls and internet searches not necessarily being a private undertaking is not news anymore. But when a breach occurs while communicating with your trusted congressman’s office, the level of concern rises a few degrees.

Thus it happened when I was emailed and asked to fill out a form for investigating the attempted takeover of a BLM-administered public land parcel by private interests in my neck of the woods. I did, including signature. It instantly disappeared from my screen, phone, and was not sent to/received by the office who had forwarded it, floating now in cyberspace, subjected to the nefarious purposes we read about daily.

The underlying issue, an attempted private landgrab of a public land parcel on a Wild and Scenic River ideal for fishing, camping, rafting, and just plain recreating and the only spot for miles to freely access the river — public property itself — is of wider concern.

This is tax lot 8S, 30E, 17, 2000, confirmed to be BLM, which crosses the Middle Fork. In 2023, a private property sign appeared, which I ignored in my quest for a cooling dip last June. The adjacent private landowner arrived promptly to inform me that he owned the land. Arrest by the sheriff and not respecting my property in retaliation were more actions promised. It’s difficult to convince the unconvincible, so I contacted BLM requesting a survey of the parcel, which, I was informed, is “not a priority.” Still not done, a year later, hence the appeal to the congressman which, hopefully, will get results. 

Grant County, on the one hand, seeks to promote nature tourism; on the other it tends to limit such to the boisterous, exploitive kind like hunting and guiding, neglecting other, more generally attractive endeavors as the simple enjoyment of the county’s mountains, lakes, forests and wildlife, which certainly deserve attention, potentially drawing more visitors, and equal revenue.

Preservation of public lands access is crucial to us, that “public,” and the agencies responsible for preserving them, local, state and federal, must be held to account. Our elected official in Congress surely will support us in the task.

Vega Nunez

Ritter