Forest Service shifts focus on gathering

Rainbow Family gets lessons on fire risks, land reclamation

Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 4, 2006 at midnight

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ROUTT NATIONAL FOREST - U.S. Forest Service officials have turned their attention to educating the thousands of people attending the Rainbow Family of Living Light gathering about fire and land reclamation issues, pulling back on the number of citations being written for illegal camping.

"We are focusing our efforts on rehabilitation of the land," Diann Ritschard, spokeswoman for the Routt National Forest, said Monday.

"The group needs to do a lot of work before they disband," she added. "We're working with them to protect water sources and dealing with human waste and dog waste issues."

From June 12 through Monday, 531 citations had been issued to attendees, most for illegal camping. Last month, the Rainbow Family was denied a permit to use the forest for their annual gathering because of the high fire danger.

"In the beginning, it was an illegal gathering and we were trying to prevent the gathering from happening," said Denise Ottaviano, spokeswoman for the Forest Service's National Incident Management Team. "Once the numbers were overwhelming, we had to shift our resources and our objectives."

As of Monday, an estimated 10,000 people had arrived for the gathering in the Routt National Forest north of Steamboat Springs. The attendance is about half of what was expected.

"We're not receiving the numbers we were first estimating because of the issue of the permit and with the fire danger," said Ritschard.

Last Wednesday , fire restrictions were put in effect for Routt National Forest because of dry conditions and beetle damage to trees in the area.

"The fire restrictions were not placed for the Rainbow gathering but for the entire forest because of the fire danger," said Ottaviano.

Conditions in the forest are similar to those in 2002, when almost 40,000 acres of the Routt National Forest were lost to wildfires, she said.

Still, a limited number of fire permits were issued to Rainbow Family members this weekend.

"Since there are kitchens that are feeding large numbers of people, on a case-by-case basis we're issuing permits to those people who have small fires in enclosed areas," said Ritschard.

Some communal fires also are being allowed so Rainbow Family members can keep warm, but all individual campfires have been banned.

"The gathering participants have designated people as fire watch," said Ottaviano. "They're making sure there are no individual campfires and no kitchen fires without a permit. So they're cooperating with us in that respect."

Five resource officers were added to the Forest Service staffing over the weekend to approve fire permits and to educate Rainbow Family members about fire safety.

So far, there have been no wildfires in the area, although there have been a few lightning strikes.

Meanwhile, hearings continued Monday at a temporary federal courtroom set up at a nearby fire station on the citations that have been issued. Ninety cases were on the docket, but as of late Monday, it was not known what the outcomes were.

Last Friday, 110 cases were heard, resulting in 10 trials. Nine of the trials resulted in guilty verdicts, with one case being dismissed. Most of the violators were levied $40 fines, but some were banned from all national forest lands for a year.

At least three people also were ordered to leave the Routt National Forest immediately. One of the three who had been ordered to leave the gathering was caught trying to return Monday and was facing additional charges.

The Colorado State Patrol said it made contact with 250 motorists on Routt County Road 129 during the weekend to warn them about mountain driving hazards. A number of traffic citations also were issued.

Six abandoned vehicles, two of which were involved in rollover accidents, were towed away Monday.

It was not known how many citations were issued Monday, but Ottaviano said many of those cited earlier have failed to appear in court, resulting in warrants being issued for their arrest.

The Rainbow Family gathering is scheduled to end Friday, although a number of those at the event are expected to start leaving Wednesday. The gathering's most popular event - a prayer circle - will be held today.

Ritschard said she had heard that it is customary for some Rainbow Family members to stay behind after the gathering ends to help clean up and reclaim the land.

fongt@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5489

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