ROAD CLOSURES ARE A POOR PATH IN ANTI-POT FIGHT

Our view: The managers of Whiskeytown deserve leeway to experiment,
but in the long run keeping out the law-abiding is a rotten way to
stop criminals.

The managers of Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, whose slopes
have been overrun with marijuana gardens in recent years, want to keep
the crooks out of the backcountry. So what's their plan? Gate a
popular road that might make life tougher for growers but will
certainly block many law-abiding users as well.

Park officials plan to block South Fork Mountain Road, which climbs to
an overlook north of Highway 299, to motorized vehicles beginning June
1 and through the summer. The Whiskey Creek watershed, reached by the
road, has been particularly popular among illegal growers, and rangers
hope the gate will dissuade them.

"If they have to go a lot farther to walk in, hopefully they'll go
somewhere else," said Chief Ranger Jim Richardson, "and hopefully it's
not Whiskeytown."

That's relying on a lot of hope, and it might not be enough. The
planting season will have already passed by June 1 and the harvest
comes in the fall. Closing the road for the summer won't interfere
with either of those times, and Richardson acknowledged the timing
isn't ideal.

And growers, being lawbreakers, prefer isolated areas. Reducing
legitimate visits to an area could make it more attractive to
criminals, creating a safer hideout even if they have to work harder
to reach it.

Park Superintendent Jim Milestone calls the closure an experiment. He
stressed that the road will remain open for cyclists, hikers and
horseback riders. He added that it will reopen for the hunting season
and said he's working with off-roading groups on a permit system that
could allow lawful access -- a smart compromise as Whiskeytown tries
to get a handle on a difficult problem.

The park deserves leeway to get a handle on the pot growing, but in
the long run, road closures are a terrible tactic. They're no
substitute for beefing up the thin cadre of rangers patrolling federal
lands. (Congressman Herger, are you listening?)

The CHP doesn't blockade Interstate 5 because of the chronic speeding.
The FBI doesn't shut down the Internet because of Nigerian e-mail scams.

If the only way to save our public lands from criminals is to close
them off, we'd be better off living with the occasional bad guy.