Closure irks Tonto Forest area hiker

For the last three years, Scottsdale resident Tim Jacobson has gone hiking with his dogs at Coon Bluff, a public recreation area along the Salt River northeast of Mesa.

He even recently bought a $95 annual parking pass to be able to go there year-round.

But when he arrived with his dogs at the gate last week, he found it locked. No sign, no notice given. When he came back again last Friday, he said the site was still closed.

Tonto National Forest officials blame the restricted hours on staffing shortages.

Recreation sites at Coon Bluff, Phon D Sutton, Sheep’s Crossing and Pebble Beach now close at sundown on Sunday until 4 p.m. the following Friday each week, according to an announcement on the Forest Service’s Web site.

“The information is out there,” said Art Wirtz, district ranger with the Mesa Ranger District of the Tonto National Forest. “I don’t know if they’re aware of it.”

Wirtz said the district is short about 10 staff members, and it doesn’t have enough people available to pick up litter and patrol the areas. He said the Forest Service is trying to stretch the staff it has by using them on weekends when most people visit the river.

But Jacobson is skeptical.

“I’ve never seen anyone from the Forest Service out there picking up garbage in the three years I’ve been going there,” he said.

Wirtz said the recent shortages are due to what he called the “growing pains” of a new system, in which the 156 Forest Service personnel offices around the country were centralized into one office in Albuquerque, N.M.

Wirtz said the Forest Service hopes to be able to reopen the recreation areas along the Salt River in a few months.

In the meantime, Jacobson is upset that the closures don’t apply equally to everybody.

While driving home last week, he said he noticed a private charter bus entering one of the closed areas. After questioning Forest Service officials, he learned that some businesses receive exclusive access to the recreation areas while the public is shut out.

Wirtz defends the special-use permits given to some businesses.

He said a significant amount of money made by those businesses goes back to the government, and some of the money helps maintain those sites.

“Yes, tax dollars did build all of these recreation sites,” he said. “But the money to maintain and operate them doesn’t necessarily come from taxpayers.”

He also pointed out that private tour companies serve the public, who otherwise would not be able to river raft with trained guides.

“The public are the ones that are using it,” Wirtz said.

Jacobson’s other complaint is that the Forest Service did not mention that parking lot hours would soon be restricted when he bought his parking pass. He said the three recreation areas that remain open during the week are crowded by customers and buses from the Salt River Tubing company.

Wirtz said the Forest Service now tells people when they buy their parking permits that some areas are closed five days a week.

In the end, Jacobson said he just wants public access to public land.

“What law gives you the authority to close public land off to the public?” he asked.