River High, Boaters Busted

CORTEZ – It’s not often that the Dolores River below McPhee Reservoir has high enough flows for rafting, so when the Bureau of Reclamation released water in early May, paddlers and boaters of all types flocked to the put-in – and so did the law.

Normally, Bureau of Land Management rangers and officers patrol at boater put-ins to make sure boaters have paid their daily user fees, brought proper human waste systems (groovers) and are clean and tidy at camps.

On the weekend of May 12, BLM Law Enforcement Officer Keith McGrath took the extra charge to write several boaters possession of marijuana citations at Bradfield Camp on the Lower Dolores River.

“I can tell you that there were ten citations for possession,” McGrath said. “As far as the details, until those who received citations go to court, I can’t say much about it.”

Rumors have spread throughout the boating community concerning the details of the boater bust. Some have said the bust included the Colorado State Patrol, while others have said that the bust involved a high number of personal searches.

“There was no State Patrol involved,” McGrath said. “We had three [BLM] officers there and there were no searches. My title as a BLM ranger is to enforce all federal laws. This type of incident is not at all uncommon, and it is fairly regular.”

Several people posted their own accounts of what happened that weekend at Mountainbuzz.com, a website where boaters share information.

“I just want to give folks a heads-up on what the BLM is up to on the Lower Dolores River,” one blogger wrote on the website. “There are a couple of newbie law enforcement types who get [pleasure] giving out citations for smoking and/or possessing marijuana. Their tactics include lurking in the shadows of your camp and watching your activities while around the campfire, etc. They are not averse to searching without probable cause.”

Another blogger, who was cited that weekend wrote, “We were camped at the Bradfield Campground Friday night. The four of us were chilling with some beers and green stuff. I noticed three folks creeping up and thought they were friends from another camp. All of a sudden flashlights, interrogation and intimidation. We were all cited even with them finding only one pipe and one gram of green.

“I knew of at least 15 others that were cited that night. The next day we put in with maybe 100 other people. No BLM ranger then to check for groovers, firepans, etc. The river is getting trashed but at least no one was getting high.”

For some, getting busted for pot possession is one thing. For others the problem is that the rangers were neglecting their ranger duties while lurking in the shadows and sniffing the air like a DEA beagle at a Mexico boarder crossing. The cost to camp at Bradfield and Dove Creek Pumps is now an issue, and some wonder where that money is really going.“What really kills me about this whole thing, is that the BLM wants $8/night to camp at both Bradfield and Dove Creek Pumps,” another blogger wrote. “The campgrounds are completely trashed, especially DC Pumps. We spent over an hour cleaning up broken glass, cig butts, garbage, etc. before we could even think about setting up camp for the evening. So, apparently the BLM has enough money to hire a couple of dicks [detectives], but they cannot afford to hire anyone to clean up the garbage dumps they call campsites. Be careful down there folks, this crap needs to be stopped.”