On Friday, Oct. 11, five members from the Free Land Holder Committee went out to where locals were dismantling their fence in Chicken Creek.
Members of the group were unarmed, bringing with them only documents that they call “evidence” that proves their ownership of the land “under treaty law and land patent law,” they said in an email to The Journal.
“We hope to help our neighbors understand we were willing to take the risk in order to demonstrate this is not an uprising, an insurrection or a rebellion,” they said. “We were unarmed, in peace, with honor for our local neighbors.”
“They had a bunch of papers, land descriptions, but no deed in their name,” said County Commissioner Gerald Koppenhafer, who met Free Land Holders at the fence Friday.
“Until they have that (deed) they have no more right here than any of the rest of us,” he said. “The Forest Service is pathetic, and so is our sheriff, as far as I’m concerned.”
A lot of people who were removing fence that morning left, fearing the confrontation would escalate to violence, said Danette Dillon, whose family homesteaded in the Mancos Valley about 1865.
As of Saturday, Oct. 12, all fencing has been removed from the forest.
Dillon, like many others, were surprised at how much fence the group got up in so little time. She calculated that for fence posts alone, at $3 a piece, the group had to spend around $21,000.
Bill Vaughn, a Mancos resident who frequents Chicken Creek to walk his dog, said that when he finished removing fence on Thursday, it was a 30-minute walk back to where he parked his car.
“I couldn’t believe how far it went,” Vaughn said.
On Friday, Vaughn helped remove more fence, wearing thicker gloves than the day before. He said the fence punctured the rubber globes he wore Thursday.
“See how nasty that stuff is,” Vaughn said, showing off the barbed wire.
Two women who asked not to be named, walked along the fencing and collected plastic ribbons and other waste that was strewed in trees, on the forest floor.
That morning, the pair collected a bucketload of trash.
“They’ve cut trees, they’ve driven motorized vehicles where they’re not supposed to,” said one of the women.
“They have no right to destroy grazing rights and land,” Koppenhafer said.
The Free Land Holder Committee rebutted rumors that they have been building more fence.
“We gave our word to the Sheriff and to the Forest Service that we would pause the fence for now during this escalation of public concern,” they said in an email. “So there was indeed no new progress on completing our fencing since we paused on Wednesday, October 8.”
The Free Land Holders Committee said that during the meeting with locals, some were more receptive to what they shared.
“All in all, even though many of the people on the fence line were armed and appeared nervous by our presence, once the conversations opened up, they could see that we are pleasant, respectful, not there to discuss the fence issue. We merely presented evidence all in hopes of gaining more understanding,” the group said.
“Since the Sheriff has stood down, and the Forest Service has not shown up to intervene, ticket or arrest either side, the solution is left to the Free Land Holder Committee and to the good people of the Mancos area,” the group said.
