HELP, Landowner Blocking Historical Access Point to the Miami River, How To Proceed

[JohnSmith]

A few weeks ago I was I was exploring some spots by Tillamook. One spot was the Miami River using Frank Crane Road. Id never been but OnX made it seem like a Legal Access and a few internet sources also made it seem legit.

But when I arrived at Frank Crane Road, there was a big gate that states "Private Easement, No Public Access." I though to myself that was strange and moved on.

Later when I got home I did a little digging and came across this website

After reading the article and emailing the woman who wrote it, it became apparent that this particular landowner was encroaching on our public access. She has reached out to the state with no help, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, & Oregon Hunters both are have local ties to the family of the 2nd landowner behind the gate, and won’t get involved.

She says that "Every entity directs us to seek a remedy in court as private citizens. Of course this would take someone with deep pockets"

So I ask what is there for us to do. How can we get this landowner to take down the Gate? Is it within our legal right to Physically remove the gate? If i were to put a glass dome on top of a Public Park and people broke it to access the park would that be illegal?

 

[SparkyofSoCal]

I know the road and agree with the idea it is, using different map sources, the road itself located on public land. I think the landowner with the land on each side of the road has made improvements to the condition of the road and the bridge up to his house. While not agreeing with his gate and preventing access to the road, that is his reasoning.
It is really the State that is failing on the responsibility for the gate because it is State Forest Land the road occupies and not the County.
What do you think? Do letters to State representatives work? If using letters is the best option, do we start at the top and work down? What is the chain of command? Has anyone else ever been involved with this kind of thing? Possibly revisit the opinion section of the paper again with fresh letters?
Taking the gate down as of now as an option may make things worse with the already fragile relationship with property owner. We are likely dealing with the "Golden Rule" here, the one with the Gold wins.

 

[troutdude]

My .02 would be to just let things be. Probably not worth your time and effort. Not to mention, that there are many other places to go drop your lines. Where there would be no such concerns.

 

[Snopro]

I have to politely disagree. We need to fight for every public access to water. This type of schinagians, if not confronted, will embolden other land owners to do the same.

The statement above is based on the premise of the location being a public easement.

 

[troutdude]

@Snopro I guess I missed a part of what the OP was frustrated about. Thanks for pointing that out. I agree. If that location is public land--then the County and/or State officials should get involved. Because that ain't right.

 

[TheKnigit]

I apologize for the long post.

I am fully on Snopro's side of the fence on this. I see way to many land owners blocking off access to what should be public ground. Whether it is land or stream, it happens way to often. However, I do believe that this is going to be a potentially long and slow process to get the gate removed. Please take my suggestion with a grain of salt, as I have never personally been involved in this process fully, beyond step 2 1/2, and this is second hand knowledge from those who have. I am also unfamiliar with the road and area that you are talking about, but given the description I can make some educated guesses.

1. Do your research. Which it appears that you have already started. You want to be 100% certain that is an illegally placed gate or road blockage.
- OnX is very accurate, but it can take a little bit of time for them to update land ownership when it changes hands. Your county assessor should have publicly available maps that show current property lines and ownership. This should also include ownership of roads.

2. Get a hold of your county lands department/assessor. They should be able to tell you whether or not there is some easement, or agreement, in place that makes the gate legal or not.

2 1/2. Try talking to the land owner first if it appears safe. Maybe they don't understand the rules/laws? Maybe they thought that they were in the right? If you do this be courteous, patient, and careful. It doesn't take much for this conversation to go south. People really don't like to be told that they are wrong, especially if there is money involved.

3. Get in touch with the entity that maintains the road. Preferably via email so there is some sort of paper trail. Some entities, such as BLM, have a way to report land lock abuses like this. I am not sure if Oregon State lands do though.

4. Get a hold of the OSP non-emergency line, preferably in some way that creates a paper trail once again. They are probably going to be the ones to go out and order the gate removal anyways.

This could get the gate removed without the need to go to court, but it might take a while if you have to go beyond step 2 1/2 (which sounds like it might not be an option based on the original post). It is possible that the gate was placed by a land owner who thought that it was their land and all it will take is a conversation, either from a public individual or OSP. It is also completely possible that this gate is placed legally. It doesn't take a whole heck of a lot for a couple of neighboring land owners to petition a county to change the public access status of a road. Especially if it isn't a through road. You never know unless you ask though. It is entirely possible, given the supposedly historic public access history, that this could move quickly if the correct official is made aware of it.

Operating under the assumption that the gate has been illegally placed. I would, under no circumstances, suggest pulling it down. Or taking any physical action yourself other than attempting to talk to the land owner. Your glass dome analogy isn't all that far off from the truth, but you are opening a whole new can of worms by doing something like that.

 

[SparkyofSoCal]

Like this gate, landowners many times will post signs saying private property knowing full well they can usually get away with it. Seen it in CA, UT, OR, AZ, ID and SD. Usually their bluff works. You bring up a good idea, go to the county I see what they show. X and Gaia both show a corridor around the State Forest road leading from one point in forest along River to pavement. That gate has been there at least 5 years and no owner is just going to voluntarily take it down because a fisherman and hunter doesn’t want to drive 20 miles out of the way to fish or hunt an area.