Steamboat Springs – Thousands of hippies gathering in a forest near Steamboat Springs won’t be able to remain there legally, federal officials declared Thursday as they denied the group’s belated application for a land-use permit.
A national task force has been scrambled to watch and cite those who take part in the Rainbow Family gathering, which has consisted of more than 2,000 peace-preachers and is expected to draw tens of thousands more. The Colorado State Patrol and local agencies statewide are set to contribute to the task force’s ranks, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Kim Vogel.
“We’re not picking on innocent people,” said Denise Ottaviano, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman who came to Steamboat Springs from Washington as part of the task force. “Everyone there is part of an illegal gathering.”
Hundreds of those ticketed are set to appear before a federal magistrate in a makeshift courtroom today. The magistrate, manning the bench in a firehouse a few miles from the gathering site, could impose up to a $5,000 fine and six months of jail time on each defendant.
The permit application was declined because of a fire danger concern and the fact that the land on which the hippies are camping has been booked by other businesses or groups, officials said in a statement.
This may make surviving in the forest more difficult for the Rainbow Family, whose members depend on runs to grocery stores several miles away for food and supplies. And family members worry that the hassle and the citations may deter tens of thousands of others from joining them.
But otherwise, Ottaviano said, “it’s not feasible for us to try to block out 20,000 people.”
If the gathering were to reach that size, as it has in past years, it would match the entire population of Routt County in 2003 census data.
The task force had set up a checkpoint on a remote road near the gathering on Thursday, handing out warnings and citations.
On Tuesday, 15 forestry officials abandoned a checkpoint after more than 200 family members allegedly hurled sticks and rocks at them as officers barred the road. No one was injured or arrested.
Family members deny being violent, saying it would go against the group’s message. Several said they told the authorities that they love them and sang the national anthem as they formed a circle around the officers, locking hands. The officers drew their weapons, and the family members eventually stepped aside, they said.
Rainbow Family members were scattered through a stretch of Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest about 30 miles north of Steamboat Springs, bordering a meadow where they hold prayer circles.
