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A story of the Forest Service and an open mine shaft.
Trteamer | 11/3/2019 | Trteamer

Posted on 11/03/2019 7:02:15 AM PST by Trteamer

A little story of the Forest Service and an open mine shaft..

My wife and I ride ATV's up by Red Feather Lakes, CO. We were up the first week of August and stopped in to eat lunch by an old mine. We noticed that someone had taken a cutting torch and cut the big metal door off of the mine shaft, leaving it wide open for anyone to wander in. A ton of kids ride up there and it was very dangerous.

So I stop in the US Forest Service District Office in Fort Collins to report it.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Outdoors; Society
KEYWORDS: beauracracy; forest; government
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To: Trteamer

The Forest Service has been that way for at least 50 years. Everything has to be specifically budgeted. Also, don’t dare to take matters into your own hands and do something to correct the situation.


21 posted on 11/03/2019 7:53:56 AM PST by mad_as_he$$ (Beware the homeless industrial complex.)
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To: Trteamer

Wonder how many manhours were spent in meetings to arrive at this outcome?

Vs.two guys tossing a portable welding outfit on an ATV and being done before lunch?


22 posted on 11/03/2019 7:58:45 AM PST by bigbob (Trust Trump. Trust the Plan.)
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To: Trteamer

Forest Service is federal. I would never ask them to do diddly. But most western states have Divisions of Reclamation, Mining and Safety.

Much of what these state offices do is render mines safe. In AZ, for vertical shafts, they pour boulders and rubble down them.

And yes, abandoned mines are incredibly dangerous, as is the land around them. Even professional miners will only enter them very gingerly, while equipped with breathing equipment and safety gear. With friends outside if things go south.


23 posted on 11/03/2019 8:23:58 AM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy (Liberalism is the belief everyone else should be in treatment for your disorder.)
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To: Trteamer

Open mines all over the desert in AZ.


24 posted on 11/03/2019 8:31:53 AM PST by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west))
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To: Trteamer

I bet if you’d mentioned the possibility of bats being harmed, they’d get someone up there ASAP to protect the bats

Burro-crazy burrocrats seem to find a way to make things happen to protect wildlife, but humans? Not so quickly


25 posted on 11/03/2019 8:33:23 AM PST by Mudcat (What would Reagan do?)
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To: Trteamer

I am a caver as my handle suggests. I live in Indiana where we have hundreds of old mines on state and federal property. The mines are “gated” so as to allow bats entry and exit that might live there. I have personally worked on close to 25 gates to “close” old mines. The mines “might” be home to federally protected and rare bats. You can’t just go in and seal up a mine because some biologists might file suit against state, federal and private persons involved in gating the mines. As one poster stated, there has to be funds allocated to install a gate. We put the same gates on caves that allow bats entry/exit.


26 posted on 11/03/2019 9:23:37 AM PST by caver
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To: Leaning Right

“I dunno. Maybe things would have gone better if she had included a one hundred dollar bill with each permit application.”

I’ve seen codes inspectors bribed with whiskey or smoked hams.


27 posted on 11/03/2019 10:17:56 AM PST by dljordan
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To: DesertRhino

I say let people be stupid

The wilderness is full of cliffs. Holes. Snakes. Wild animals wild rivers

What are you going to do ? Ban them too?

ATV s are for wimps also. Get out there on your own two feet or wheels


28 posted on 11/03/2019 10:38:09 AM PST by Truthoverpower (The guvmint you get is the Trump winning express !)
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To: Trteamer
I am working on getting funding for materials and to hire a contractor to install a closure.

You understand that this was government code for "Go F*** yourself, and don't bother me again"...

29 posted on 11/03/2019 11:42:05 AM PST by Ouderkirk (Life is about ass, you're either covering, hauling, laughing, kicking, kissing, or behaving like one)
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To: Michael.SF.

One could write a book on government ineptness. My favorite:

They bankrupted their own (confiscated) WHORE HOUSE in Nevada.......


30 posted on 11/03/2019 12:08:10 PM PST by S.O.S121.500 (Had ENOUGH Yet ? ........................ Enforce the Bill of Rights .........It is the LAW.)
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To: S.O.S121.500

LOL. WINNER!


31 posted on 11/03/2019 12:47:46 PM PST by Michael.SF. (Youth, speed and energy can always be overcome with experience and treachery.)
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To: Michael.SF.

[Half Moon Bay California] Tale of woe.

Something similar happened some years ago at Lake Elsinore, CA. Developers bought a large block of empty land, intending to build condos. They ran into financial problems and it took them a couple of years to round up the money. Then found out that they can’t build because they let the weeds grow and some endangered critter (I think a toad) made the area their homes.

Can sell the land, but must continue to pay taxes.

I believe it was in the LA Times, with a headline something like “Mow your land or lose it.”


32 posted on 11/03/2019 2:08:25 PM PST by Oatka
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To: Oatka

“Can sell” = “Can’t sell”.


33 posted on 11/03/2019 2:13:14 PM PST by Oatka
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To: DesertRhino
You can’t just run up and weld it shut, what if someone is already inside?

Remember what happened to poor Injun Joe in Tom Sawyer's story?

34 posted on 11/03/2019 4:11:36 PM PST by thecodont
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