FLDS Remnant Fences Forest Service Land

[gustava]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ar-AA1s3mb2

 

Apparently, local folks are not happy.

[Howl]

Thanks for this.  I live in next  community over and am following the multiple Facebook pages that have sprung up. For reference, the area is in the SW corner of Colorado and the closest little town is Mancos, CO, which is by Mesa Verde National Park.  Mancos is about a 15 minute drive from the disputed area. Durango, CO is 30 miles east. 

Locals are STEAMED over this, infuriated, enraged even. 

First, these yahoos are absolutely Sovereign Citizens, they do have a connection of some kind to FLDS, although they claim they don't. Patrick Pipkin now owns several properties that were originally owned by Warren Jeffs; one of those properties is about 15 miles away from where these yahoos are claiming title to 1,400 acres of Forest Service Land. 

 The idiotic local sheriff for Montezuma County, Sheriff Nowlin, claims these are normal, regular people and it's a "land dispute" that will be addressed by the Federal courts.  

The Chicken Creek Trails,  which are in the Forest Service area that has been illegally fenced, are beloved by the local community and are heavily used for mountain biking, hiking, trail running and trails are groomed for cross country skiing in the winter.  There is snow mobiling in the winter. There is heavy community investment in maintaining these trails. There are existing grazing leases in the area and elk rifle hunting  season starts this week or next. Although gaps were left where the fencing crossed trails, the fendcing would be incredibly dangerous in winter when it's mostly covered up with snow and not visible until one gets tangled up in it.

The fencing is a major danger to fawns and elk calves. Deer and elk will start migrating down to lower pastures in the weeks ahead as winter begins.   The bucks and does can make it over a fence; fawns and elk calves cannot. 

Today's high school cross-country running event that has been at the Chicken Creek Trails for 25 years had to be moved over to the Boggy Creek Trails in a neighboring community.  

Mancos moves Chicken Creek Challenge cross-country race   For the first time in 25 years, it’ll be at Boggy Draw instead

About 20 locals got out there yesterday (Friday) and removed almost all of the barbed wire and fence posts and stacked them up.   The Sheriff Nowlin told them they couldn't take the barbed wire and metal fence posts because that would be considered theft, so they left everything neatly stacked.  I'm assuming that the remaining fencing will be dismantled by the end of today (Saturday, Oct 12, 2024) or tomorrow.  I'm so strongly in support of this fence removal; someone had to take action STAT before these people got entrenched and the Forest Service doesn't seem inclined to take immediate action. 

Now the question is, have the  Free Land Holders Committee set up structures or other infrastruc on the Forest Service land, are they living there? Nobody seems to know the answer to this question. 

I think locals aren't familiar with the Sovereign Citizen mind set, but multiple people have been pointing it out on the Facebook page(s) dedicated to this issue.  

Some have speculated that Sheriff Nowlin is part of the Constitutional Sheriff  movement. He doesn't identify himself as such,  but may be sympathetic. 

The faux legal document submitted by Patrick-Leroy: Pipkin is in the body of this linked article from KSUT,  the local PBS affiliate.   Note the bizarre punctuation used in Pipkin's name.  Typical Sov Cit bs; they think it lends legal gravitas.  This article also has photos of citizens dismantling the fence.  

A land dispute north of Mancos triggers a community backlash and accusations of a land grab

 

 

Edited Saturday at 02:39 PM by Howl

[gustava]

Nowlin did seem to be on the side of the invaders...or he's too cowardly to deal with it.

[Howl]

Yes, these folks do have FLDS roots of some kind, but this is primarily an attempted land grab based on Sovereign Citizen principles. 

The "Free Land Holders Committee" group is rumored to have money. 

I'm vaguely aware of the details, with emphasis on vague, but here goes:  Back when, Pipkin et al. were in Short Creek.  The then FLDS police arrested them for criminal trespass and they sued for wrongful arrest.  They won the lawsuit but never received the monetary award, so were given some Warren Jeffs properties in lieu of money.  Or something. 

Anyway, UPDATE from a local trail users group on Facebook.  Short version, all the fencing has been taken down: 

Spoiler

"As of today (Saturday, 10/12/24), all of the fence has been taken down by volunteers from the Mancos community. This has been a unique opportunity for virtually all citizens of the county to come together - ranchers, motorized trail users, cross country skiers, hunters, horseback riders, snowmobilers, trail runners, hikers, mountain bikers, dog walkers, and virtually every other user group worked side by side for two days to remove 4.5 miles of new fencing. We are all united in our use of and love of the national forest. However, we are not out of the woods yet regarding this issue as the next step is for the Forest Service to file litigation to prove ownership in the courts."

 

Edited Sunday at 02:24 PM by Howl

[Howl]

One more thing.  There is an FLDS presence in this area.  Last summer I saw one or two women in the local WalMart in full FLDS drag -- floor length pastel dresses and distinctive hair arrangement of their long hair. 

Also, a woman I know hired them for cleaning rentals two years ago.  They aren't easy to contact, but she'd like to have them back. 

[Howl]

Local people are starting to dig up info. A living trust owns the three parcels totalling 160 acres within the 1400 or so acres that they attempted to illegally fence. 

Here's  Facebook post with some details:

Spoiler

Montezuma County's GIS system is publicly accessible and allows anyone to see land ownership and chain of title for properties in the county: link HERE 

The three properties marked in yellow below are the three parcels (totaling 160 acres) that once housed the alleged FLDS compound. They were awarded to a group including Mr. Pipkin as a part of the judgement for a wrongful arrest lawsuit in 2020 (as found in various news stories). Pipkin et al claim to not be associated with FLDS.

To be clear, my understanding is that this group is fencing off and laying claim to additional adjacent lands, legally marked as owned by USFS in the area, NOT just fencing off their private land.

Here are the direct links to the three private parcels:

Link 1 HERE

Link 2 HERE

Link 3 HERE

All three parcels underwent a "WarrantyDeed-NoSale" in Dec 2023 and transferred legal ownership to "PJ Sunset PLP Nevada Revocable Living Trust." Usually these are usually used when someone wants to change the owners name on the deed but not actually sell the property. I didn't easily find any information about this trust, but note that "PLP" does happen to be Patrick Leroy Pipkin's initials.

 

[Howl]

I just chatted with some folks who mountain bike the Chicken Creek Trails.  Both ran across the fence builders last week and one person called the Forest Service to find out what was going on because it just didn't seem quite right. At that point the Forest Service didn't know the details. 

The fence building happened in an incredibly short period of time and caught everyone off guard. 

It makes me so happy that the incredible speed of dismantling the fence caught the interlopers off guard. 

[gustava]

Thanks for the updates, Howl.