Trespassing at Box Elder Creek

[Karen Drozda]

I drove out to Box Elder Creek today to catch an Orchard Oriole. I was stopped by DIA patrol and was told this is was airport land and restricted. PLEASE! Do not go out there to bird. The guy who stopped me said that it will soon be patrolled by Homeland Security etc. due to it being restricted. I assured him I would get the word out. Thanks. BTW no OROR :(  

[Eric Dinkel]

So interesting the lack of consistency with this out at Box Elder and surrounding area. I was told a similar thing back in January at the creek itself. Then last week I was tempted by the cassin’s and grasshopper sparrows (and other cool birds) and headed back out. Encountered 3 different patrols (one from inside the fence near runways) and all 3 said a okay- have fun birding.
My guess is the airport doesn’t have a clear policy on birding out there so each patrol decides what to say in the moment. Just my two cents.

Cheers,

Eric Dinkel
Denver

[Patrick O'Driscoll]

Thanks, Karen, for the note.

I regret that I did not see it while in the field today . . . in fact, I started my eBird list for Box Elder Creek about 3 minutes after you posted here.

Which is why I was still oblivious when I posted to CoBirds this afternoon after sighting the pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers working on a cavity nest along the creek.

I apologize to CoBirds readers for not knowing that word had already gone out here about trespassing at Box Elder.

I was not flouting the rules, but I was careless in my ignorance of them. 

I, too, was approached as I departed Box Elder Creek a little after 2 p.m.

A friendly and polite guy with USDA's APHIS "wildlife services" (he works in the area to minimize wildlife-aircraft encounters) advised me of the off-limits status. In fact, portions of some roads many of us have routinely driven there -- notably Hudson Road north of 72nd Avenue -- are supposed to be entirely off-limits. Personally, I think the airport's "PRIVATE PROPERTY" signs are a little ambiguous (more on that below), but I freely admit I had not read the "fine print" at the bottom.

I had birded across the east side of the airport all morning and into the afternoon, starting at 56th and Hudson Road (aka Hudson Mile Road), working up north of 72nd to 96th, along 96th across the creek and back, and then north along Umpire Road (which parallels the easternmost airport security fence at the end of the east-west runway in DIA's northeast corner) and over to Box Elder Creek @ 104th Avenue.

Most of those roads, according to the guy from APHIS, are off-limits, as is all the land along them, including any unmarked roads that branch off them (usually oil-well access roads).

I suppose that technically, we can bird from the shoulder of the roads that are still open to us, but that's all. In a way, it's a little like driving the Wildlife Loop at Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR, where you can't get out and walk around, and there are a number of side roads labeled off-limits.

Unfortunately, virtually none of the side roads is labeled that way, and the white "PRIVATE PROPERTY" signs are far-flung and fewer-and-farther-between. I think most if not all of us missed that fine print saying it's all private and we're not allowed to stray off the main roads.

In most cases, that "PRIVATE PROPERTY" sign is paired with a white, same-size "NO DUMPING" sign stacked atop it. It's hard not to assume that together, they apply not to those unmarked side roads or to an old two-track trail, unsigned and unfenced, along a shaded, grassy creek, Turns out they apply to almost EVERYthing around them.

And you know what they say about "ass-u-me" . . . . I was wrong, and the guy from APHIS set me straight.

BTW, there's one of those "PRIVATE PROPERTY/NO DUMPING" double-signs posted on 1o4th just before you reach Box Elder Creek -- clearly visible IF you're coming from the east (driving west on 104th from Imbogen Road).

But there's no such sign on the west side, and having come in from the south/west, I assumed (that word again) the creek was wide open.

Alas, open no more, if it ever was.

Patrick O'Driscoll

Denver

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[Birding]

I was just out there- patrol asked if I were birding. I said yes and waved the binos. He said “Great! Have fun!” I think some of those folks have a “because I can complex”. I had one try to chase me off the (public) right-of-way over at the burrowing owl area. I politely declined and she took off, muttering about calling the police. Give some folks a badge, no matter how insubstantial, and they tend to get above their raisin’, as they say in country music.
There is no signage in that area, and I have to doubt if there is serious concern about it. If I prove to be wrong, I’ll hit you up for bail.....

Norm Lewis
Lakewood
Sent from my iPhone


> On Jun 11, 2020, at 4:32 PM, Eric Dinkel <endi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> So interesting the lack of consistency with this out at Box Elder and surrounding area. I was told a similar thing back in January at the creek itself. Then last week I was tempted by the cassin’s and grasshopper sparrows (and other cool birds) and headed back out. Encountered 3 different patrols (one from inside the fence near runways) and all 3 said a okay- have fun birding.

[Norm Lewis]

After reading Patrick's account, perhaps I need to reconsider!

Norm Lewis

Lakewood 

-----Original Message-----
From: 'Birding' via Colorado Birds <cob...@googlegroups.com>
To: endi...@gmail.com
Cc: Colorado Birds <cob...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thu, Jun 11, 2020 5:33 pm
Subject: Re: [cobirds] Trespassing at Box Elder Creek

I was just out there- patrol asked if I were birding. I said yes and waved the binos. He said “Great! Have fun!” I think some of those folks have a “because I can complex”. I had one try to chase me off the (public) right-of-way over at the burrowing owl area. I politely declined and she took off, muttering about calling the police. Give some folks a badge, no matter how insubstantial, and they tend to get above their raisin’, as they say in country music.
There is no signage in that area, and I have to doubt if there is serious concern about it. If I prove to be wrong, I’ll hit you up for bail.....

Norm Lewis
Lakewood
Sent from my iPhone


> On Jun 11, 2020, at 4:32 PM, Eric Dinkel <endi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> So interesting the lack of consistency with this out at Box Elder and surrounding area. I was told a similar thing back in January at the creek itself. Then last week I was tempted by the cassin’s and grasshopper sparrows (and other cool birds) and headed back out. Encountered 3 different patrols (one from inside the fence near runways) and all 3 said a okay- have fun birding.
> My guess is the airport doesn’t have a clear policy on birding out there so each patrol decides what to say in the moment. Just my two cents.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Eric Dinkel
> Denver
>
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[Robert Raker]

Sorry to hear this Karen. I was out there on June 7th and got chased out by this totally obnoxious guy from Petropro Engineering, I assume one of the oil field service companies out there. He hassled Bil and I and said we were on private property owned by the airport and he was going to call the airport security guys and they would prosecute as we could be muslim terrorists. Not a pleasant experience and we never did get to see the RHWO of OROR.

Rob Raker

Lakewood, CO

Jefferson County

[Gary Brower]

Wow,

Following all of these posts makes me wonder whether there’s someone (not me) who — as happened some months ago with a different property — who can approach the REAL owner (whether its DIA or someone else) and get a definitive answer. Is this a DFO issue? Or something like that?

It would seem that the “right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing”.

Gary Brower

Unincorporated Arapahoe County 

(A long ways south of the area in question!)

 

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[Christine Alexander]

If you use The Waze app while driving around out there the areas that are airport property are shaded gray, and will give everyone an idea of where to expect patrol encounters and the boundaries.

Christine Alexander 

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