ATVs, trucks part of back country law

Posted: Sunday, Jul 27, 2008 - 09:43:37 pm PDT
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By AMANDA WINTERS
Staff writer 

Fernan area requires patrol of a different sort

KOOTENAI COUNTY -- Sheriff's deputy Jeff Burns bounces down the long, winding gravel roads through the Fernan back country in his white Sheriff's truck. Twenty miles deep in the forest behind Fernan Lake, he is one of two deputies who patrol the wooded regions of Kootenai County as part of the new Back Country Patrol.

Previously, the marine patrol division was responsible for the back country. Burns said it was too difficult for the marine division to handle both areas, and with the increasing county population it seemed necessary to create a new division devoted solely to the back country.

"People want to get out, the forest is close and it's pretty handy for people to get to," he said. "Ninety-nine percent of them do it fine and there's not problem with them, but the same criminals that operate down (in the city) go back there and operate, too. There's DUI's thefts, drug activity. You name it, if it happens (in the city) it happens back there too."

The back country patrol operates daily, with special emphasis on weekends and holidays. It is the first of its kind, and the deputies handle everything from search and rescue to responding to ATV accidents.

"We haven't patrolled actively ever," Burns said. "When we had time between the boating season and the snowmobile season we'd be back there patrolling, but that was pretty much October, November and that's it."

Burns and his fellow deputy, Will Klinkefus, have been patrolling all the back country in Kootenai County, sometimes crossing into Shoshone and Bonner Counties, since May.

"Over there is where an ATV burned up last week," he said, pointing at a dark stain on the concrete just past Fernan Lake.

Since he works four 10-12 hour shifts a week, Burns has become very familiar with the back country and the places where situations requiring responses have occurred. When the idea of a back country patrol was first presented to him, he was eager to be a part of it.

"The best part is being in the outdoors," he said. "I'm a pretty outdoorsy guy. It's something different every day -- not the same old grind. I drove a patrol car for 18 years; I've had my fill of that."

But it's not all fun and games, he said. Burns and Klinkefus do more than ride ATVs, trail motorcycles and pickup trucks through the back roads. They're in charge of 60 volunteers, search and rescue, and they spend what time they have left applying for grants at the office. They're also on call 24/7 in case special back country equipment is needed for an ATV accident or to search for a lost person.

"You're on call all the time, so sometimes your pager will go off when you're at a barbecue with friends just about to take the cap off a beer," he said."I've had a few of those."

Most of those calls are for ATV accidents, which he said have occurred frequently this season. So far there has been one fatality from an ATV accident.

"At times there are some places where the campers tend to congregate a little more," he said. "There's a lot of ATV traffic and there're some people that don't get along well with others and some that drink too much and crash."

While ATV accidents are common, Burns said overall traffic in the back country is down.

"There hasn't been near the activity this year as there was last year," he said. "I don't know if it's fuel prices or what. It might be, when it costs you $200 to fill up your trucks and all your ATVs."

Along the drive past Fernan Lake toward the north fork of the Coeur d'Alene River, gravel pullouts are popular sites for parties that leave behind beer cans full of bullet holes and burn pits full of debris. The front end of a blue 1970s Chevy pickup truck can be found in the grass to the edge of one pullout, and Burns said much more has been found in the past.

"Over the years there's been a lot of different things happen back here," he said. "We've had homicides happen back here, fugitives try to hide out here, we have stolen vehicles recovered up here. There was a stolen car up here Fourth of July weekend, someone dumped it over the bank."

Burns said littering is one of his pet peeves, but he gets far more annoyed when he sees people -- especially children -- riding ATVs without helmets.

"It's amazing how many people I see up here riding without helmets on," he said. "It's not a law, if you're an adult 18 or older you don't have to, but it just makes sense. If you tip over the first thing that hits is your head. It's the cheapest insurance you can get."

Driving down the winding gravel road flanked by thick forest, it finally opens up into what Burns said is the former forest service air strip. It's now a popular site for families to camp and let their children ride their ATVs down the long dirt strip. In the trees a family from Hayden is camping.

"We've got the whole family here, four kids and grandma," Ron Booth said to Burns. "It's nice to be off work."

The two chat about the people who frequent the strip to ride their ATVs, and Booth said they've had to pull their kids off the strip several times due to reckless drivers.

"It only takes one knucklehead," Burns said.

"Yeah, it does," Booth said.

Like the Booth family, Burns said most people have had positive responses to the presence of the Sheriff's department.

"Most of the people we've talked to back there have been pretty receptive to us," he said. "Most are families who come back here for peace and quiet with their kids and want to come back."

He wraps up his patrol by stopping at the Honeysuckle Campground to see if the host is there. Usually, they have a cup of coffee together and talk about the going-ons of the back country. But today the host isn't in, so he heads back up another winding road and into town. His patrol the following day will likely be in a different area and at a different time of day.

"I try to mix it up so I don't get a pattern," he said. "But I do want a good presence in the day."

Burns said the patrol is likely to expand in the next few years as the population continues to rise. They are looking into extended patrols where the deputies would stay at a ranger's station overnight instead of going back and forth between the Sheriff's Department and the back country.