{"id":93965,"date":"2019-05-16T19:01:21","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T01:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/blm-launches-tip-line-to-report-suspicious-activity-on-public-lands\/"},"modified":"2019-05-16T19:01:21","modified_gmt":"2019-05-17T01:01:21","slug":"blm-launches-tip-line-to-report-suspicious-activity-on-public-lands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/blm-launches-tip-line-to-report-suspicious-activity-on-public-lands\/","title":{"rendered":"BLM launches tip line to report suspicious activity on public lands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Tyler
Tyler Fouss, a law enforcement ranger for the Bureau of Land Management, said a new tip line aims to speed up the response time for reports of suspicious activity on public lands.<\/span>Journal file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The old slogan, \u201cIf you see something, say something,\u201d just got a little easier to do for anyone who sees nefarious activities on public lands in Southwest Colorado.<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Land Management\u2019s Tres Rios Office recently launched a \u201ctip line\u201d for people to more easily report suspicious activity, vandalism or any other possible illegal acts on public lands.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has an ownership in public lands,\u201d said Tyler Fouss, a law enforcement ranger for BLM. \u201cAnd there are times when people don\u2019t know where to report something they don\u2019t think is right or feel is a violation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The previous system for reporting to the BLM was to leave voicemails with the agency\u2019s law enforcement. But Fouss said rangers are rarely in the office, and as a result, there was some lag time in getting the report.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes we don\u2019t get the tip right away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Now, people can report suspicious activity through calling the tip line or emailing a specific BLM ranger address, which is automatically sent to law enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this tip line, hopefully, they\u2019ll help us respond to reports quicker,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

So far, Fouss said the BLM has received one report to the tip line since it was launched about a month ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really not that well known to the public at this point,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we\u2019re hoping it\u2019s a better system for people to report information to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

On average, the BLM receives a few calls a month from people who report suspicious activity, Fouss said, which can include vandalism, trash dumping or crimes to natural resources.<\/p>\n

But enforcing the law on public lands has its difficulties, Fouss said.<\/p>\n

For instance, it can be hard finding the culprit who dumped trash in a remote area, he said. In another example, by the time rangers respond to an area for a report of people illegally riding ATVs off-trail, the people are long gone. Also, cellphone coverage for reporting can be spotty in many of these areas.<\/p>\n

But the public reporting suspicious activity does help BLM rangers, who can take the information and maybe increase patrols in a specific area, Fouss said.<\/p>\n

Fouss said tips received to the BLM\u2019s line will be redirected to the appropriate agency should the report be located on other jurisdictional lands, such as a national forest or corresponding county.<\/p>\n

The Tres Rios office covers BLM lands in Archuleta, Dolores, La Plata and San Juan counties, including Canyon of the Ancients National Monument.<\/p>\n

Denise Alonzo, spokeswoman with the Forest Service, said the agency doesn\u2019t have a comparable tip line to the BLM\u2019s, but reports of suspicious activity can be made to the Forest Service\u2019s 24\/7 dispatch at 385-1324.<\/p>\n

Joe Lewanowski, spokesman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, said the agency has a program known as \u201cOperation Game Thief,\u201d where people can call in if they see suspicious activity, possible poaching or any nefarious activity toward wildlife at (877) 265-6648.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fairly well used,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The BLM\u2019s tip line is (833) 660-5771 and email is TRFOtipline@blm.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fouss said the tip line is to report suspicious activity, not for use in emergency situations.<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reports sent directly to rangers aims to speed up response time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[829,21,195,549],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-93965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-canyon-of-the-ancients-national-monument","tag-cortez","tag-u-s-bureau-of-land-management","tag-united-states-forest-service"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93965"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=93965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}