Forest Service dangers growing

WASHINGTON – For the nation’s forest rangers, the serenity of the woods increasingly is giving way to confrontations with unruly visitors.

Attacks, threats and lesser exchanges involving Forest Service workers reached an all-time high last year, according to government documents obtained by a public employees group. Incidents ranged from gunshots to stalking and verbal abuse.

The agency tally shows 477 such reports in 2005, compared with 88 logged a year earlier. The total in 2003 was 104; in 1995, it was 34.

Among the more serious incidents, a Forest Service worker was run down by a man in a snowmobile in California’s Lake Tahoe Basin Management area. The man pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon.

Also, Forest Service workers were shot at while 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.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The nonprofit environmental advocacy group said the government’s methods for collecting the data have not changed over the years. It said some of the blame for the growing violence in the woods is due to greater access to remote lands and waterways by motorized equipment.

“Things like off-road vehicles are taking people into the backcountry to get away from all rules of civilization, and trouble appears to be ensuing,” said executive director Jeff Ruch.

Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the Forest Service, said Friday that while he had not seen the report and could not confirm its accuracy, it was true that an increase in the use of off-highway vehicles had likely contributed to a rise in the number of assaults.