Unauthorized road leads to court

GRAND JUNCTION, CO—A Steamboat Springs, Colorado man was sentenced on April 26, 2005 in U.S. District Court in Grand Junction, Colorado for the unauthorized development of public land administered by the Bureau of Land Management. Douglas Matthews pled guilty earlier this year to violating 43 CFR 2801.3(a), Unauthorized Use, Occupancy, or Development, by bulldozing approximately five miles of road located within the Skull Creek/Willow Creek Wilderness Study Area in Moffat County, Colorado.

“This senseless action not only caused resource damage in a Wilderness Study Area, but also caused unnecessary degradation to several archaeological sites,” BLM Special Agent in Charge John Silence said. “The ramifications of breaking the law on BLM public lands are severe.”

U.S. Magistrate Judge Gudrun Rice sentenced Matthews to pay a fine of $1,000 and an associated special assessment fee, as well as $18,000 in restitution to the BLM. The restitution money will be used to restore the disturbed area, and repair and stabilize the damaged archaeological sites.

###