PASCO – Signs are being posted to warn motorists that the only road into the Juniper Dunes Wilderness is private, and a landowner says if that doesn’t work, he may install a cable barrier.
Myron Peterson of Pasco, one of several owners of Peterson Road, said he can’t keep up with repairs because of traffic by unknowing trespassers.
“I’ve spent I can’t tell you how much on that road,” Peterson said. “It won’t take that kind of traffic.”
There is no public road leading to Juniper Dunes, northeast of Pasco, a popular federally owned playground for off-road enthusiasts.
“People don’t know they’re trespassing,” Peterson said. “I’ve stopped people, good people. They don’t know.”
Peterson said if the signs don’t work, he may install a cable barrier.
The Bureau of Land Management reached agreement with Steve DeRuyter this year to allow public access to a part of the road he owns, but to reach that stretch requires crossing the part owned by Peterson, who says he’s not interested in a similar agreement or in granting strangers permission on request.
“I’m not going to let them use it if they do ask me,” he said. “One guy tells his buddy and he tells four more.”
Franklin County Commissioner Neva Corkrum said Wednesday she is sympathetic to Peterson.
“He uses his own money and equipment,” Corkrum said. “He maintains that road. The people using it are not being very good stewards of the land they’re going through. There’s trash, and they’re tearing up the road. I don’t blame him for being frustrated.”
Kevin Devitt, a spokesman for the BLM, said there’s nothing the agency can do.
“There’s technically no legal access,” Devitt said. “Technically, they need to have the blessing of the landowner.”
Peterson said he’d be willing to sell if the county obtains funds to purchase the road, perhaps through a federal grant.
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