The woods aren't as always as serene as you might think. They are increasingly becoming the scene of altercations between unruly visitors and forest rangers, a new report says.
Attacks and threats against Forest Service workers reached an all-time high last year, according to a study by a public employees advocacy group. A total of 477 assaults, threats or attacks were reported in 2005 - more than five times the 88 incidents reported in 2004.
"Violent altercations with off-road vehicle operators, drug dealers and intoxicated campers appear to propel the skyrocketing number of incidents," said the report by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
Even as the level of violence grows, the Forest Service continues to reduce its law enforcement staff, the report said.
Increased use of all-terrain vehicles and a road network that has grown to more than 350,000 miles has led to greater activity in national forests - including remote areas that previously were unreachable, said Jeff Ruch, executive director of the employees group, which plans to release the 2005 report on Monday.
The report was compiled from Forest Service records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
"Things like off-road vehicles are taking people into the back country to get away from all rules of civilization, and trouble appears to be ensuing," Ruch said.
Don Amador, a spokesman for the Blue Ribbon Coalition, an Idaho-based group that advocates motorized recreation, called the report absurd.
"To try to lump off-roaders with drug dealers and other ne'er-do-wells is just ridiculous," he said.
Most ATV riders are responsible and use designated trails, Amador said, adding there is no evidence that off-roaders are more violent than any other group that uses national forests.
The only increase in crime in national forests he's seen is the growing presence of pot farmers, Amador said: "That's my biggest concern. It's a serious issue and it needs to be addressed."
Forest officials say they suspect public lands have become more popular for marijuana gardens because of the vast remote locations patrolled only intermittently by law enforcement personnel.
The new report warned about a steady decline in Forest Service security officers, which they said is endangering employees and the general public. Last year, there were about 660 rangers, investigators and special agents in the nation's 155 national forests and 20 grasslands - down by nearly one-third from 1993, the report said.
The figure translates into one position for every 291,000 acres of forest land in the 192 million acre forest system.
The Forest Service spends less than 2 percent of its total budget on law enforcement, a figure that is lower than other federal land management agencies such as the National Park Service or the Bureau of Land Management, the report said.
Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the Forest Service, said Friday he had not seen the report and could not confirm its accuracy.
But Rey said the group's 2004 report unfairly manipulated Forest Service data to make a political point.
"Most of the assaults in 2004 were as a result of encounters with drunks, drug users or deranged environmental protesters," Rey said, adding that it was unfortunate the new report seemed to be pitting one group of forest users against another.
"It doesn't assist law enforcement. It complicates it by singling one group out. That's unfair," Rey said.
While assaults have likely increased, that is a function of the huge increase in use of off-highway vehicles, Rey said. "It doesn't mean the policy is bad or OHV users are bad people," he said.
The Forest Service requested a $12 million increase for law enforcement in the budget year that begins Oct. 1, a recognition of the increased crime in national forests, Rey said.
The report describes an incident in the Lake Tahoe Basin Management area where a man pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon after running down a Forest Service worker with a snowmobile. In another incident, shots were fired at Forest Service workers trying to confiscate a marijuana plantation in California's Angeles National Forest. Two loaded shotguns and more than 78 kilograms of processed marijuana were seized.Associated Press via the Eugene Register-Guard
