Italian Bar disaster update:
As you know now, we’ve been trying to get the Stanislaus NF to evict the illegal occupiers down on Italian Bar road for close to a year now. We’ve shot videos of the trash, sewage, dumped batteries, a vehicle which was in the river and provided evidence of how a mining claim was illegally filed over the top of this congress approved recreation area.
Back on March 22, AMRA and Blue Ribbon Coalition sent the Supervisor a letter asking for an explanation of why they have done nothing about this and to justify why. They have ignored that letter even though we had them sign for it.
This new letter is really the final part in giving the Stanislaus NF an opportunity to do their job. We will have exhausted our administrative remedies.
One would think it should be a simple phone call, send them video, send them the legal land status, send them evidence of the occupiers illegal activity, send them the withdrawal passed by congress and then watch them fix the problem. Nope, not on this one for some reason.
We have no choice if they fail to respond to this new letter in a timely manner. We will proceed with the next step along with our friends at Blue Ribbon Coalition.
Stanislaus NF….Do the right thing, return this land to the people for whom it was designated. It’s really that simple. We hope they make the right choice.
Here is our letter:
To: USFS Stanislaus National Forest Supervisor
Jason Kuiken
19777 Greenley Road Sonora, CA 95370
Date: June 9, 2022
Dear Mr. Kuiken,
Once again we are writing to you about the Italian Bar Recreation Area disaster within your jurisdiction in the SNF.
We sent you a certified letter on March 22, 2022 (which we have the signed receipt of your office receiving) asking for you to specifically remove these illegal occupiers of our public lands and of the area Congress designated legally as a withdrawn recreation area for all to enjoy. We asked if you feel it is not appropriate to issue Notices of Non-compliance to the offenders, you provide an explanation of why you are choosing not to. You have ignored our request to date and frankly sir, we are now at the end of our administrative remedies with you if you fail to respond.
To recap, we have provided video evidence of illegal activity including: illegally dumping trash, human waste, vehicles and even cutting down live oak trees which are being sold as firewood in Sonora. We’ve met with you and your staff in person to express the concern of the threats the public receives when trying to use this recreation area. We’ve prompted a United States Representative, Tom McClintock to get involved and offer to assist you in resolving this crisis. All of this seems to have fallen on deaf ears.
We have offered to clean up the area, at no cost to the USFS through a fundraising effort we are willing to coordinate with the public using our equipment and even cover disposal costs. We are completely and utterly baffled why the simple act of removing people who are provably and undeniably committing criminal acts and intimidating the public is ignored. For your convenience, I have also included in a copy of the letter sent March 22, 2022.
We request and expect a prompt, and immediate response to our requests. Ignoring us, the public and we represent is quite concerning.
Sincerely,
Mr. Shannon Poe
President/Founder American Mining Rights Association (AMRA)
Ben Burr
Executive Director
BlueRibbon Coalition