SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The head of the U.S. Forest Service has condemned an Oregon sheriff’s arrest of a Forest Service employee after a planned arson attack in a national forest spread to private land.
Forest Service Chief Randy Moore’s criticism was followed by a statement from Grant County District Attorney Jim Carpenter in which he defended the Oct. 19 arrest of a “U.S. Forest Service chief” on reckless burning charges.
“I respect the sheriff’s judgment and his decision to make an arrest in this case,” Carpenter said Tuesday. Sheriff Todd McKinley updates Carpenter from time to time about the investigation, the prosecutor said, adding that it could take weeks or even months.
Once completed, “a decision will be made as to whether charges will be filed,” Carpenter said.
Burn boss Rick Snodgrass told local residents Blue Mountain Eagle Newspaper that his arrest McKinley disrupted the chain of command when a Forest Service crew was conducting prescribed burns in the Malheur National Forest. Snodgrass was taken to the county jail in Canyon City, where he was released on parole.
“Other individuals were able to pick up the slack, fortunately, who were well trained,” Snodgrass said. “He put not only my guys in danger over there, their safety, but this land and all of Bear Valley.”
Prescribed burns are established intentionally and under carefully controlled conditions to clear understory, pine thickets, and other surface fuels that make forests more prone to wildfires.
McKinley said the prescribed fire burned about 20 acres (8 hectares) of land owned by the Holliday family before it was brought under control. But Chad Holliday estimated that nearly 40 acres (16 hectares) of the family’s property had burned.
In a message Monday to all more than 25,000 U.S. Forest Service employees, Moore said he would not “sit by without fully protecting Burn Boss and all employees performing their duties as federal employees.”
“In my opinion, this arrest was highly inappropriate under the circumstances,” Moore said on the agency’s website.
The arrest underscored simmering tensions over the management of federal lands in rural conservative eastern Oregon.
In 2016, right-wing militants staged an armed takeover of a federal preserve in nearby Harney County to protest the treatment of ranchers Steven Hammond and his father, Dwight, who were both convicted of federal arson and sent to prison. They were released early after being pardoned by then-President Donald Trump.
Carpenter warned that Snodgrass’ federal job “will not protect him if he is found to have acted recklessly,” adding that it could raise the standard to which he will be held.
This story has been corrected to change the name of the US Forest Service “fire boss” from Randy to Rick.
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