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SIERRA VISTA — When you stand on Milt and Myrna Taylor’s porch and look northeast, the development sprawling from town looks like an approaching tsunami.
“It doesn’t take very long,” Milt said, concerned about city problems coming to the county. “You get swallowed up.”
The Taylors’ 8 acres sits practically at ground zero of recent controversies surrounding recreational access to Garden Canyon Wash.
Their west fence separates them from Fort Huachuca.
 With their house in the background, Myrna and Milt Taylor stand on their 8-acre property near Garden Canyon Wash on Aug. 16. (Ted Morris-Herald/Review) |
On their south is State Trust Land, popular for hikers and mountain bicyclists. So is the fort land. But that’s going to get tricky for the hikers and bikers.
In the past, the Taylors’ south fence has been cut repeatedly by recreational types who are determined to use their land as a shortcut from the State Trust Land to Garden Canyon Wash that stretches northeast into the city.
Thirteen acres to the Taylors’ north, owned by Jack Freeman, was formerly wide open. There was no fence. The soft dirt made it ideal for dirt bikes, and there has been a lot of dust and controversy raised over that in recent years.
The Taylors’ view of the mountains is stunning. Their home is nestled in the midst of mesquite thickets. The wildlife is rich. Hawks, vultures, dragonflies, butterflies, hummingbirds, Mohave and diamondback rattlesnakes, mountain lions, etc.
The Taylors bought their 8 acres in the early 1990s for $38,500. It was part of a 12-acre parcel that fronted Calle Encina. Their lane is called Cicada Flats, jutting west off of Calle Encina. A stone’s throw to the northeast is an elbow in the road, where Kachina Trail begins and goes east. Just to the north of that elbow is where the city proposes to provide public access to Garden Canyon Wash.
The Taylors do not oppose recreation. But they are disgusted by blatant vandalism. They are blunt about their feelings when they see a cut wire on their property.
“Violated,” Myrna said.
Milt, 69, takes it in stride and is handy at repairing the fence. He has all the necessary tools and supplies. A spool of two-point barbed wire will cost him between $30 and $40. He has already gone through two or three 1,320-foot spools of the stuff, building and repairing the fence.
Myrna, 67, meanwhile, has applied a scolding schoolteacher’s touch to the problem, creating signs that she will afix to the fence, replacing earlier ones that were stolen or destroyed.
Here are some of her hand-painted messages:
“Your freedom to roam ends … where private, posted property begins … No Trespassing!”
“Why carry wire cutters and stoop so low? Cutting fence is illegal as you know!”
“When did wire cutters become part of mountain bikers’ gear?”
The Herald/Review contacted local bicycle shops about the issue.
Aaron Abrams, co-manager of Sun ’N Spokes Inc. on Fry Boulevard, said he is familiar with the issue because he used to live in the Calle Encina and Yaqui Street area. “I grew up riding in all that area,” Abrams said. “There are tons of trails out there.”
The 25-year-old spoke prior to Fort Huachuca’s decision to close all its pedestrian gates, one of which was a key access for mountain bicyclists near the Taylors’ home.
“It’s going to put a significant impact on my riding those roads,” Abrams said. “Unless there’s actually a gate, you don’t know where you’re at.”
Abrams and his fellow manager Shane Stilwell strongly stated that they promote legal and ethical behavior when it comes to people’s fences. Sun ’N Spokes is a sponsor of a mountain-biking club, Dawn to Dust, which the men said obeys rules. They are constantly fighting bad stereotypes.
The fence-cutters were probably a few individuals, Abrams said.
He also made a prediction of the barred fort gates: “What that leads to is people hopping fences.”
Martin Coll, owner of M&M Cycling on Fry Boulevard, said bicyclists should respect fences. He noted an irony from his homeland in Scotland, where the Royal Family’s 50,000-acre Balmoral Estate has no fences or signs. “You can kind of walk anywhere in Scotland,” Coll said.
To him, a greater concern facing local residents is the huge amount of garbage deposited in the Huachuca Mountains by illegal immigrants.
Cyclists and hikers, on the other hand, are the helpful types who protect the natural environment, Coll said. He also pointed out that the gentle slopes of Garden Canyon Wash are ideal terrain for intermediate cyclists.
Even Myrna and Milt do not agree perfectly on the issues. Milt has always been more strongly opposed to any kind of recreational traffic being allowed to go through the fort’s pedestrian gate that is near their home.
The fort’s Aerostat is near their home and the gate, and that site is strictly off limits to the public.
“I don’t think they need to be having trails close to that. Breach in security,” Milt said during an interview with the Herald/Review on Aug. 16, well before the fort command issued its decision Thursday to close all such gates.
TED MORRIS can be reached at 515-4614 or by e-mail at cityeditor@svherald.com.
Few in the bunch.. wrote on Sep 15, 2007 11:48 PM: