The Petroglyph

Environmental Activist “Chilcoat” caught red-handed endangering livestock

There have been a lot of dramatic stories coming from members of the environmentalist community, especially the Great Old Broads for Wilderness (GOBs) and the Friends of Cedar Mesa (FCM), about artifact looting, wanted posters, and so on. And they always point their fingers at the local residents of San Juan County Utah as the ones violating the law.

On Monday April 3rd, Rose Chilcoat of the GOBs and her husband, were detained by a couple San Juan County ranchers, Zane Odell and Zeb Dalton, out on Lime Ridge, which is located between Bluff and Mexican Hat, Utah. Zane Odell runs his cows in this area and built a fence around one of the watering areas in order to better manage the limited water resource available for his cows. The fence had a gate on it so he could keep the cows in or out, depending on what was needed. This gate was not placed there for public convenience, but was meant only for his cows to access their essential water.

During the weekend, Mr. Odell left the gate open and secured it with a chain so it would stay open for his cows to have access to the water. Lime Ridge is an extremely arid environment, so it’s important for livestock to have access to water.

On Saturday, Odell was checking the area and found the gate had been closed by some unknown persons. He noticed that there were a couple of sets of footprints in and around the gate, most likely left by whomever closed it. There were also tracks left by the vehicle they had driven.

Mr. Odell had previously placed a trail cam at the watering sight to capture images of anyone entering the area. He recovered the pictures from the camera, which fortunately showed the suspects entering the area and then leaving. Mr. Odell opened the gate again so his cattle could get to their water, and left the area.

Zane Odell returned on Monday with rancher Zeb Dalton who was assisting him with a water line. It was that same day that Mr. Odell saw a vehicle and a trailer enter the area of the watering hole and the gate. The vehicle entered the area, then immediately turned around to go back to the main road. When Mr. Odell recognized the vehicle as the one in the pictures recovered from the trail cam, he and Mr. Dalton took off towards the vehicle and stopped it before its occupants were able to leave.

According to Mr. Odell, At first the male and female in the vehicle were upset for being stopped. The female began throwing a fit and taking pictures of the ranchers and their vehicle. Zeb Dalton stated that he told the female to go a head and take her pictures because he had pictures of her husband and her doing what they had done. At which time the female suspect quickly returned to her vehicle and stopped throwing a fit according to Mr. Dalton.

At some point the Sheriff was notified and was dispatched to the location. While waiting for the Sheriff, Mr. Odell stated that the male in the vehicle admitted to closing the gate despite the fact he had no reason to do so. Later, the two were identified as Rose Chilcoat, the retired ex-director of the Great Old Broads for Wilderness and a board member of Friends of Cedar Mesa, and her husband.

Rose Chilcoat and the Great Old Broads for Wilderness have been involved in environmentalist activism since 1989.

“The Great Old Broads have stood up for wilderness all across America since 1989, fighting cattle in the Southwest, urban sprawl in the Northeast, population pressures on the West Coast, oil and gas in the Rockies, equestrian impacts in the Midwest and, now, timber in the Northwest”…..

“Were going to be fighting these battles for a long time,” Chilcoat said, “so we’d better be enjoying ourselves. We’re very serious, and we’re fiercely passionate about what’s important to us, but you have to keep a sense of humor. You have to keep things civil and fun.” Missoulian July 18, 2004 by Michael Jamison

Apparently, Rose Chilcoat forgot about being civil when she and her husband locked cows out of their water source last weekend, endangering and cruelly harassing Mr. Odell’s livestock. Chilcoat’s act of environmental terrorism reinforces suspicions that she has been behind the intentional creation of fake news involving things such as, wanted posters, mass looting, scary Halloween masks, and misinformation. It appears that Chilcoat and those like her believe “the end justifies the means” no matter whom or what gets hurt.

The problem with this approach is that it always comes back to bite you, just like Rose Chilcoat is finding out….

This article is republished with permission from our friends at the The Petroglyph