Plans to remove trees agitate Black Forest men

BLACK FOREST • For neighbors Jeff Marten and Christopher Wyckoff, their trees do more than just break the ever-present wind.

On the rolling plains of northeast El Paso County, the ponderosa pines block the snow, attract deer and other animals and, they say, raise property values. So the Homecrest Circle residents were dismayed to learn earlier this month the Kiowa Conservation District plans to cut them down.

Worse, district officials told the residents they couldn't move the trees elsewhere on their property. They are to be destroyed by October, the district told them in a letter.

The residents say it is a violation of their property rights, and the trees aren't going down without a fight.

"I called and said, ‘If you send somebody out to my property and take my trees, I consider that theft,'" said Marten, 43, a chemist.

At issue is a flood-control dam behind their land. The drainage channel and dam are usually dry, but in a big storm, runoff would wash through, and the trees at the rear of each of their properties are in the 100-year floodplain. The conservation district, which manages 65 runoff dams in the Kiowa Creek watershed and has easements to the men's land, told them the trees must go because they would be obstructions in a flood.

Both men moved here from Colorado Springs to escape city life, Marten 12 years ago, Wyckoff two years ago. The trees range from saplings to full-grown pines, and have been left to grow in the floodplain for decades. Both men have three or four on their property.

When the residents asked if they could move the trees themselves, district officials told them no, because the root structures have to be left in place to hold down the soil in the floodplain.

The residents attended a meeting of the conservation district's board Wednesday to plead their case, but were given no assurances except the district won't cut the trees right away. They said district officials indicated they want to remove the trees now, after all these years, because it recently received extra funding.

Contacted this week, district officials declined to comment.

"It's governed by a board. I can't really say anything," said district employee Pam Brewster. A call to board chairman Charlie Carnahan was not returned Friday. The district is a special district with no taxing power and a volunteer board of directors. It encourages residents, among other things, to plant trees.

Residents say they will take legal action if the district persists.

Said Marten, "They don't own the trees. They don't own the land. They just have the rights to the spillway,"

"Trees add value and as you can see, we don't have a lot of them here," said Wyckoff, 48, a software engineer. "I don't want to fight city hall, but I'll do what I have to do."