Scofield cabin owners may look to Congress for solution

SCOFIELD RESERVOIR — Congress may decide the fate of 60 cabin properties on the shores of this mountain reservoir.

At issue are structures built in the Bolotas Subdivision below a flood line that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has deemed a hazard should the dam fail.

Those cabins and trailers, however, have in many cases occupied the property for 70-plus years, handed down from generation to generation by residents who thought they had clear title.

It turns out they are in "trespass" on federal land owned by the agency, a status solidified in a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling last year.

"It's just a real boondoggle," said Carbon County Commissioner Mike Milovich, who has been part of a working group set up to resolve the issue.

Dozens of cabin dwellers feared a year ago the federal government would boot them off property they'd invested time and money into for years, and thought they owned.

Several lawsuits arising from the ambiguous title issue have been winding their way through the court system and in the meantime, the properties have sat in limbo.

The Bureau of Reclamation, while stuck in the unsavory position of being the ejecting landlord, was still duty bound to evict the cabin dwellers and tear down the structures because of potential flood threats.

A meeting earlier this month, however, produced the first draft of federal legislation that if passed by Congress would give current residents a couple of options to hang onto their recreational legacies.

"I am cautiously optimistic," said Rep. Patrick Painter, R-Nephi, a state lawmaker who has rallied the residents' cause among colleagues and Gov. Gary Herbert's office.

"Here is a situation where we obviously have to change federal law to do it, but there is no question this legislation would have the support of all five members of our congressional delegation and 100 percent of residents of Utah."

The measure would authorize the Interior secretary to convey interests or title to certain pieces of property along the dam.

Issues of trespass would be resolved with a fee paid by the cabin owner for compensation to the federal government, with the understanding that it only applies to the existing structure.

Another option would be to "lease" an easement from the federal government that would be subject to a renewal in 10 years.