Friday, December 17, 2004

County holds desert road access hearing

Most speakers say part of Picabo Desert Road should be moved


By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

When she speaks about the Picabo ranch she inherited from her father, Katie Breckenridge brims with emotion.

"I really want to stay here," Breckenridge said Wednesday night at a public hearing at the Silver Creek Store in Picabo. "I'm a ... farmer and a rancher, and I don't want to be a ... developer."

Nearly two dozen rural Blaine County residents crammed into the tight quarters of the store's enclosed front porch for a public hearing conducted by the Blaine County Commission. The majority of the citizens who spoke said they support Breckenridge's proposal for the county to vacate a portion of the Picabo Desert Road that runs through her B-Bar-B Ranch.

If the county approves the road vacation at its Monday, Dec. 20 meeting, it will mark the beginning of the end of a decade-long ordeal for Breckenridge and her partner, Rob Struthers.

The Bureau of Land Management in August gave Blaine County a 2.7-mile-long, 30-foot-wide road right of way that would maintain access to the desert near Picabo but circumvent Breckenridge's ranch. If built, a road there would connect the unpaved Picabo Desert Road and Silver Creek Road, southeast of the B-Bar-B Ranch.

The section of Picabo Desert Road that cuts through the B-Bar-B, and which Breckenridge and Struthers want closed, has become a liability, Breckenridge said.

The population of Picabo has increased. Use of the road has increased. Hunting has increased. Their dogs have been shot. Their animals have been stampeded through fences.

"The stories go on and on," Breckenridge said, but she elaborated about one incident in particular.

Breckenridge and Struthers have made a habit of following people when they pass through the ranch on the county road to make sure people don't get into or cause any trouble. On one occasion, a woman who Breckenridge had talked with several days earlier was attempting to go on a horseback ride.

"If I had been one minute later, it probably would have been one of the most dangerous accidents," she said.

The woman had parked on ranch property and was attempting to ride through the ranch to access the publicly owned mountains beyond. She was about to attempt crossing a pasture containing a band of brood mares and a stallion.

Breckenridge said a stallion is extremely protective of his band.

"He will kick and strike and kill anything that's in there," she said.

She said she would have been liable had the woman been injured.

Of the half dozen people who commented at the hearing, Richfield resident Ben Holland was the only person who offered a negative review. He said public land access points must be maintained.

"I can really sympathize with these people, but the simple fact is, the road was there first," he said.

On the other hand, Milton Fife, a Bellevue resident and member of the Committee for the Preservation of Public Access, said the trade of access through the B-Bar-B for access along Silver Creek Road was a fair one.

"I don't see any reason why this should be a problem to change this road," he said. "We are in favor of them changing the road. It really doesn't affect what people can do. The question is resolved by making this road around."




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