BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — Boulder County officials are asking for the public's help, as they try to find the person or people responsible for a string of vandalism incidents along the community's open spaces.
Dating back to mid-June, the Sheriff's Office and Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) have been looking into at least 10 incidents where someone is intentionally cutting fencing across ten agricultural properties, including properties near:
- Eagle Trailhead
- South Boulder Creek West Trailhead
- Fern Canyon Trail
- Greenbriar Connector Trail
- Lehigh Connector Trail
- Lower Big Bluestem Trail
- South Boulder Creek Trail
- South Shanahan Trail
- Greenbriar Road
- Marshall Road
The issue has OSMP Rangers like Dave Gustafson worried about the ripple effects as the fences keep cattle enclosed and separated from hikers.
"If we get bulls out on the trails and we have people running into them with their kids or their dogs, that's not going to be good.," Gustafson explained to Denver7's Tyler Melito. "We really are worried about a lot of these cows getting on the highway at night, and we could have you know a really bad collision with the vehicle."
Gustafson adding cattle have been a crucial tool in keeping the community safe from wildfires.
"They help actually graze the grass and keep it nice and low. So we have them sometimes in strategic areas to help keep the grass nice and low for fire reduction when it comes to the grass," detailed Gustafson. ""A lot of people are familiar with the Marshall Fire and how that fire spread so quickly in the tall grass. So there's a lot of different reasons we want the you know the fences here and the cattle here, but this issue that we're having right now has been going on for a while."
While the county has tried to make the fences safe for wildlife Gustafson says.
"For the majority of our fences on open space, we actually make sure that they're in good shape. The bottom line is usually smooth wire, so small animals and even deer can get underneath them," said Gustafson. "So we do a pretty good job right now, really keeping it in mind with the types of fencing that we have, making sure that it's wildlife friendly."
He says it is extremely frustrating to know there is someone out there destroying this property, which so far as amounted to roughly $15,000 just to fix the fences.
"It's really malicious because what they're walk they're doing is they're walking up to post and then they're cutting the wires on every single post," Gustafson detailed. "It's not like they're just trying to get the the fence down. They're kind of really wreaking havoc and cutting it into small pieces.
Vinnie Montez with the Boulder County Sheriff's Office told Melito the department doesn't have significant information when it comes to leads that'll find the person or people responsible, which is why they are asking for the community's help.
"One of the things that we could ask people to do is check their ring cameras or any kind of video camera systems that they have for the particular areas that might surround them with open space, and see if they see anybody coming on," Montez shared.
Montez is encouraging folks if they are at an open space, particularly one where there are cows present, to be mindful of any unusual activity, like someone being out after closing, or with items that may not be typically used on a hike like bolt cutters.
"We want people to be safe if they're mountain biking, not come across a corner and they run into a cow or just come across something that's going to be an obstacle for them where they end up getting hurt," Montez said.
And while he works for the sheriff's office, Montez says it is particularly hard for him seeing this type of vandalism as he grew up in Boulder County.
"A lot of people aren't as fortunate enough to have open space around cities to help slow down the progress of cities creeping in on you," Montez detailed. "We've got this valuable open space, but we also have to take care of it and mitigate it so that it doesn't become a wildfire hazard, and just having the ability to graze cows in a proper manner out there is a good thing."
If you have any information, Montez says people can call the sheriff's office non emergency line at 303-441-4444.
