Natrona County Sues Ranchers Over Threat To Close Off Road

CASPER — The attorney for a Natrona County ranch and family is pleading with the Natrona County Commission to resolve growing problems with people trespassing, littering and damaging their private property that’s accessed by an “alleged” county road.

In turn, commissioners have sued the family to stop them from carrying through with a threat to close off the road.

Attorney John A. Masterson told commissioners Tuesday that he and his clients, Stephanie and Walt Woodbury and their ranch operation Woodbury Land and Livestock, were surprised to learn about the lawsuit filed Monday seeking an injunction against them.

The lawsuit was in response to a June 14 letter the Woodburys sent to the county threatening to block off County Road 505, which goes 13.5 miles from the top of Casper Mountain south to Highway 487.

His clients don’t want to be “pariahs” in the community, but want the county to work with them to find solutions for their property issues, Masterson said. He said the letter was an attempt to get “something broken loose” in terms of discussion.

In the letter, Masterson said the ranch and family are having to deal with motorized and recreational trespassing, littering, people taking firewood and causing other problems.

“The Woodburys are active cattle ranchers on their lands and have BLM grazing rights over other parcels,” the letter states. “The continued use — if not abuse — of the access they have permitted has risen to intolerable levels.

“Individually, such issues are disturbing. Collectively, they are damaging to their ranching operations and interfere with the most basic rights to the use and enjoyment of their lands.”

At the commission meeting Tuesday night, the attorney said his clients want some engagement and compromise from the county.

“I would suggest that for whatever reason the county’s strategy and tactics have brought this to a boiling point, I urge you in the strongest possible terms to come to something to start a discussion and dialog with these people who do not want to be a pariah, who do not want to do what in their view they are being forced to do to get something to happen,” he said. “I will appeal to the better angels of your nature and please help something get done.”

Whose Road Is It?

Earlier in the meeting, commissioners approved a consent agenda with a resolution to start the process to make the road that for years has been labeled “County Road 505” and “Circle Drive” a legal county road.

The family contends in the June 14 letter that they own the road and have been granting access through it for years. The county never legally got ownership of the road, which is now also being used to haul gravel and other materials for construction projects and has been maintained by the county for years.

The road also serves as an evacuation route for Casper Mountain residents in the event of a fire.

Discussion at a commission work session Tuesday afternoon confirmed that the family is correct, and County Attorney Heather Duncan-Malone told commissioners that the county never legally established ownership of the road.

“It does appear going back through the land records that it was never formally established according to the statutory processes that it should have been,” she said.

Duncan-Malone said approval of the resolution will start the process of the county getting possession of the road through “prescription” or “adverse possession.” To do that, the county needs to conduct a survey and plat of the proposed road and then must publish “its notice of intent to establish this road.”

She said the survey and plat would be filed, then publish the notice of the county’s intent to establish the road and set a deadline for any “objections” from those who have an interest in the lands on which the road accesses. She said a hearing date about the road would follow.

“We would recommend that we conduct a contested case hearing with a court reporter and hearing officer and then at that point the county commissioners could take testimony as to the history of the road and determine whether or not the use of the road fits within the legal definition of adverse possession,” she said.

Wyoming law states that to claim “adverse possession,” the land has to be occupied openly, exclusively and continuously for 10 years.

Duncan-Malone said notice of the hearing date would be sent through certified mail and then at the end, commissioners would issue “conclusions of law,” and if anyone objects or wants to appeal that decision, they have the ability to do that through the district court.

Meanwhile, the county commission’s lawsuit in Natrona County District Court is asking for a restraining order and preliminary injunction against the closure of the road. As of Tuesday afternoon, no injunction had been issued.

The Woodburys initially had threatened to close the road at 8 a.m. Wednesday, but by Thursday morning it was still open.

On The Map

The county’s lawsuit states that County Road 505 “has been used as a public road and shown as a named road on county, state and federal maps for decades.”

Duncan-Malone said the county’s filing Monday is an attempt to prevent the road closure from happening.

“We’re asking the court to issue an order as soon as possible and without a hearing to prevent that from happening, and then set a hearing down the road,” she said.

In their lawsuit, the county commissioners state that the road is key to providing public access to Muddy Mountain, hundreds of acres of federal and state land, as well as access to the properties of private property owners. The county has maintained and improved the road for the past 10 years.

“County Road 505 is used for evacuation purposes as well as a road for firefighting,” the lawsuits states. “Currently, there are construction projects that utilize County Road 505, totaling $18,186,247 of taxpayers’ dollars.”

An affidavit filed by Natrona County Road and Bridge Supervisor Mike Haigler with the lawsuit states that the road is a southern extension of Casper Mountain Road and becomes Circle Drive at the Hogadon Road intersection. The affidavit states the road connects to Coal Mountain Road and to State Highway 487.

Haigler’s affidavit states that the road in part is bordered by BLM or state land, has posted speed limit signs and directional signage put up by the BLM or Natrona County Parks. He said the road serves many private property owners.

Main Delivery Route

“Presently, the road is serving as the main delivery route for all the materials needed to construct the new county lodge,” Haigler said. “It is also the main delivery route for all the materials such as gravel, asphalt, culverts and equipment to construct the new Circle Drive road project with the federal highway and the BLM project on Muddy Mountain.”

Haigler states in the affidavit that the projects, which are scheduled to continue through November, could be halted due if the road’s closed.

Additionally, Haigler states the county improved Circle Drive in 2019 with drainage and 10,000 tons of crushed gravel worth $220,000. He said the county plows the road from Hogadon Junction to the gate in winter months, as well as from Highway 487 to the old Cheney Ranch, where there is another gate closed during the winter months.

In their letter, the Woodburys say they sat down with Natrona County Commission Chairman Peter Nicolaysen, Duncan-Malone and Assistant County Attorney Leda M. Pojman on May 23 and proposed installation of secured gates that would provide first responders and other landowners codes for access.

“The response to our request, received nearly two weeks later, was outright rejection,” they wrote. “No counteroffer or alternative suggestions to resolve our concerns has ever been received from the commission. … We were and remain disappointed by this intransigence.”

The Woodburys’ company and the couple claim in their letter that they were left with “few remedies” after the unwillingness of the county negotiate.

As of Wednesday, the family and company stated in the letter that only first responders and those who obtain prior written permission will be able to use the road.

“To ensure notice and assist in enforcing their rights, the Woodburys will place appropriate signage, but will also place conspicuous, easily recognizable obstacles on their property to block an unapproved use,” the letter states. “Further, an individual trespassing will be reported to the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office and any other appropriate law enforcement entity, with request that charges be filed. Be assured that the Woodburys will cooperate with any prosecution.”

Masterson told Cowboy State Daily after the meeting he did not know his clients’ next steps or whether they would block the road. He pointed to a spot the map at the Woodbury parcel on the southern end of the road closer to Highway 487 where his client had initially notified the county he would park a bulldozer across the road.

That spot would require the gravel trucks to go up Casper Mountain Road from the north side of the mountain, a much steeper grade, to reach the construction projects. Access to campgrounds, private homes and hiking areas would not be affected.

“I can’t say what he is going to do right now,” Masterson said.

Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.