A patrol no longer is necessary because the work is done, Curtis Thomas, director of government and public affairs for BP, said.

Four incidents of vandalism occurred, starting in early April, when a Forest Service team was timber cruising - laying out the perimeter of the BP drilling area, Thomas said. A single deputy was hired to patrol the area after each incident.

"We were experiencing theft and vandalism when we were working with the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service to mark our property," Thomas said. "We'd lose a whole day of work because employees would stake one day and return the next day to find that someone had removed the stakes.

"The stakes weren't simply removed from the ground, they were taken away," Thomas said. "It was a case of vandalism and destruction of property, plain and simple."

Thomas was responding to a letter to the editor published Thursday in The Durango Herald . The letter, by Janine Fitzgerald of Bayfield, first recalled the fall of 1992 when the Forest Service sent federal marshals to protect BP from demonstrators when the firm drilled five gas wells in the Saul's Creek area.

The area in question, where 11 well pads now are to be installed, is east of Bayfield, south of U.S. Highway 160 and near the HD Mountains. Drilling in the area has been contested heavily over the years by environmental groups.

Now, Fitzgerald said in her letter, "It is interesting to know that La Plata County Sheriff's deputies spend their off-hours patrolling our public lands against us for BP America."

In a telephone interview later, Fitzgerald said the San Juan Citizens Alliance is organizing volunteers to monitor drilling and subsequent BP work.

"We're going to follow wells as they're drilled and later make sure mitigation measures are followed," Fitzgerald said. "Mitigation could include closing Saul's Creek area roads in winter to protect deer and elk and improve damaged land."

BP should be required to improve an amount of land equal to what is used for well pads and roads, Fitzgerald said. Improvements could include hydromowing - the cutting of scrub oak to stimulate re-growth and open the way for grasses.

Dan Bender, the spokesman for the La Plata County Sheriff's Office, said hiring off-duty deputies for security is a practice of long standing. Deputies have provided security for subdivisions sustaining vandalism, construction companies that lose equipment to thieves and motorcycle rallies.

"It can be for one or two days or for extended periods," Bender said.

Deputies don't make deals on their own, Bender said. They are assigned through contracts between the hiring party and La Plata County. The pay appears on their regular check as overtime, he said.

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