I hadn't heard a word about it until my friend Phil from Livermore Falls told me over the weekend.

Apparently the landowner who owns 2,200 acres and controls access to Tumbledown Field, a traditional camping area and trailhead for Tumbledown and Little Jackson Mountain trails, didn't much care for Weld residents recent vote to deny a proposal to erect a gate across Morgan Road.

So the landowner, Linda Bean Folkers, "blocked the road with several 3-foot mounds of dirt fronting 6-foot-deep ditches", "removed the three-walled lean-to", and erected "several signs prohibiting camping, fires and motorized vehicles."

OK. Now that's some slick public relations if I've ever seen it.

There's no question that the area had been heavily used and abused by campers and others over the years. So something had to be done eventually to clean up the place.

But that's pretty harsh, and unexpected, action. And I don't see any reason to poke a stick in the eye of local residents like that.

Tumbledown hikers will still have access as I understand it. Where they'll park, though, I don't know at this moment.

And how this will ultimately play out remains to be seen. Should be interesting. And unfortunately, ugly.