My parents and a lot of other U.S. taxpayers paid for a levee along the Mad River, which was built in 1956 by the Army Corps of Engineers just south of Blue Lake. Many people like to walk along the unpaved trail on top of the levee--it’s a nice walk, with the river on one side and cow pastures on the other. People have been walking there regularly since 1956, but recently the current owner of the pastureland has been harassing and intimidating walkers, chasing them off with the claim that it’s “his” levee.
         Apparently, when the Army Corps of Engineers built the levee, they didn’t buy the land outright, but rather purchased an easement to put zillions of tons of earth and rock on top of it. The Corps then turned control of the levee over to Humboldt County, which has been maintaining it ever since--at taxpayer expense. Literal ownership of the land under the levee remained with the owner of the adjacent pastureland, though there’s little practical value in owning a thin strip of property with trainloads of someone else’s rocks on top of it.
         But the levee probably greatly increases the value of the adjacent pastureland, since it protects it from flooding. Also, ownership of the pastureland is apparently accompanied by special water rights. At least I hope so, because this dairyman pumps water directly out of the Mad River to irrigate his pastures and thereby feed his cows in the summer. A couple of years ago, he was cited and fined by the Department of Fish and Game--for illegally altering a stream bed.
         In 1998, this gentleman obtained county permission to slap “No Trespassing” signs on the gate to the levee--a gate that blocks vehicle access, but a gate to which he (along with the county) has a key. Along with the signs, this man began aggressively chasing off walkers, often driving out on the levee to confront people. Use of the levee has dropped, which is unfortunate because the levee walk is an excellent trail just outside the Blue Lake city limits.
         In granting permission for the “No Trespassing” signs, the county may have neglected its responsibility to defend public access--which appears to have been dedicated to the public by implication over many years. In a subsequent letter to the dairyman’s attorney, the county stated that it “has not taken a position” on whether an implied public dedication for recreational use of the levee has occurred--although allowing the signs would seem to signal a denial of the “implied public dedication” for access. In short, the messages have been mixed.
         There is a continuous fence at the foot of the levee separating it from the pasturelands. Walkers on top of the levee have zero impact upon this man’s cows or his dairy operation. He appears to be mainly concerned with asserting the absolute control he believes ownership of the pastureland gives him.
         I myself have continued walking on the levee. I have not (yet) been confronted by this man, but I’ve heard numerous firsthand reports from people he has harassed, and many more secondhand reports. I observed him firsthand as he “went ballistic” at a Blue Lake city council meeting about a year ago, and I don’t relish the idea of running into him on the taxpayer-purchased-and-maintained levee that he claims to have the right to control.
         A citizen’s group in Blue Lake--the Mad River Levee Access Group--says that the levee is now and has always been a public access area. This claim is well-supported by continuous and well-documented use by the public since 1956, and by a detailed nine-page letter from the state Attorney General’s office citing numerous legal precedents supporting the public’s right to continue using the levee. Still, the owner of the pastureland has refused to negotiate with the citizen’s group.
         The citizen’s group is hosting a “Mad River Levee Public Access Day” on Sunday, April 29 (2001), at 1 p.m. The group “has planned this event to demonstrate to government entities, law enforcement and the landowner, the public’s commitment to preserving the levee as a public recreational access area, as it has been for the past 45 years.” The levee is located just outside the town of Blue Lake, where Hatchery Road crosses the Mad River. Everyone is invited to attend the April 29 celebration, but the group is asking people to leave their dogs at home.