Brett Kelman

The Desert Sun

SKY VALLEY, Calif. – Din Kossova stood on a sunny hillside, leaning against a 20-foot tower made of rocks and concrete. The desert floor stretched out below him, dotted with palm trees and trailer parks. Over his head, at the tower's peak, an American flag flapped in a constant wind.

"I built this without knowing it was in a park,” Kossova said, dejected. “I thought it was nobody’s land.”

Kossova, 64, an Albanian immigrant who has lived in the Coachella Valley for 40 years, built the tower by hand after carrying supplies up a steep, shade-less trail into the empty desert. He finished the tower in 2012, then dedicated it to President Woodrow Wilson, who has been a hero in Albania since he argued for the nation's independence at the end of World War I. Many Albanians have adored Wilson ever since. Kossova is no different.

Earlier this year, however, Kossova discovered that his monument to Wilson was not welcome. Federal investigators told Kossova he had actually built his tower inside Joshua Tree National Park, where terrain is fiercely protected and construction is outright forbidden.

Last Friday, a federal judge fined him $9,000. The National Park Service will use most of that money to remove the monument. In court, park rangers and attorneys were heard discussing that explosives will likely be necessary.

David T. Bristol, a federal magistrate judge who oversaw the case, had mixed feelings about punishing Kossova, but he said the law left him little choice. Bristol said building the monument was “a commendable thing to do.”

“Unfortunately, you did it in a national park,” Bristol told Kossova at his court hearing on Friday.

“I didn’t know,” Kossova answered.

“I know,” the judge responded, “and I’m sorry for that.”

Prosecutors were less sympathetic. Before the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon McCasslen rebuffed a public defender who tried to explain that Kossova had hiked into the park accidentally, and didn't know he was building on federal property.

“Well, he should have paid more attention then,” McCasslen said sharply.

Paying attention might not have helped. Joshua Tree National Park spans more than 1,200 square miles and much of the boundary is unmarked. Kossova insists he didn't see any boundary signs while he was constructing his monument, and park officials have confirmed it is possible the area was unmarked at that time. New signs were posted near Sky Valley earlier this year to keep out off-road vehicles.

Joshua Tree Superintendent David Smith said the construction of the monument has had a negative impact on the park, "regardless of the good intentions of the builder." The park plans to remove the monument as soon as possible, but the task will be difficult because the tower is large and remote.

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"It has been my experience that with any type of memorialization – whether it is tagging, graffiti, or a monument in this case – the longer it stays in place, the more likely we are to experience 'copycat' incidents," Smith wrote in an email to The Desert Sun.

Kossova began work on his monument in 2011 during one of his daily walks into the mountainous desert near his home. He was sitting in his favorite spot – a gorgeous vista that overlooks the Coachella Valley – when he had an epiphany.

“I should build something here,” he told himself. And so he did.

Kossova began hauling supplies into the desert in a backpack. He practiced his block-laying skills by building a fireplace at his home. After more than 100 hikes and about a year of work, the tower was finished just in time for the 100th anniversary of Albanian Independence.

Since then, many hikers have visited. Few know much about Albania or Wilson, Kossova admits, but the he’s proud the monument gives anyone an excuse to escape into the wilderness.

“People see it on the hill and they want to go,” Kossova said. “I think I’m doing some good, ya know?”

Others have thought so too. A notebook left at the monument for hikers to sign is filled with praise.

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"Maybe the most heartfelt monument I have been to," wrote a hiker from Oregon in 2014.

"Great hike," wrote a Pittsburgh family earlier this year. "Half of us saw 8 bighorn sheep. The other half were too slow."

The monument stood without issue until last winter, when a back-country ranger stumbled upon the tower during a patrol. Rangers then traced the monument to Kossova, who admitted proudly that he had built it. Suddenly, Kossova was looking at five citations and a summons to federal court.

The case was handled in federal court because Joshua Tree is federal property, and therefore any crime that happens in the park – no matter how small – is a federal crime. But there is no federal courthouse near Joshua Tree, so park crimes are tackled by little-known court proceedings held in the Black Rock Canyon Ranger Station every few months. Bristol, a federal judge from Riverside, sat in a folding table in front of a stone fireplace instead of a judge's bench. Two big-horned sheep skulls hung on the wall behind him.

Kossova was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay $8,930 in restitution, plus about $70 in court fees.

Prosecutors did not ask for jail time or any punitive fines, both of which were allowed by law.

"The fact that we did not seek any period of incarceration – even for a day – indicates our view of this case," said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles. "This defendant is relatively cooperative, and we anticipate he will make the restitution and make things right."

Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached by phone at (760) 778-4642, by email at brett.kelman@desertsun.com, or on Twitter @TDSbrettkelman.