ELR Citation: ELR 20863
No(s). 94-30069 (9th Cir. Jan 6, 1995)

The court affirms an individual's conviction for violating U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulation 36 C.F.R. §261.3(a) and (c) by interfering with two U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officers who were carrying out their official duties on land adjacent to the Nez Perce National Forest in Idaho. The officers went to an environmental activist group's encampment to deliver an emergency message about the death of a relative to one of the group's members. When the officers attempted to leave the encampment, the defendant hindered their exit by throwing himself under their vehicle.

The court first notes that the USDA regulation is clear that it is criminal to interfere with a Forest Officer who is performing an official duty to protect, improve, or administer the National Forest System. The regulation is consistent with 16 U.S.C. §551, which permits the USDA to protect and preserve national forests and to regulate their use. The court next holds that the officers were, at their supervisor's direction, performing an official duty to administer a national forest when they undertook to leave after delivering the emergency message. The court also holds that delivering the message contributed to forest's administration, especially because at that time there was hostility between the activists and loggers that made maintaining peace beneficial to the forest. Finally, the court rejects the defendant's argument that there was a more appropriate federal statute under which the government could have charged the individual, because it is no objection to a criminal conviction that the government could have described and successfully prosecuted the offense in another way.

Counsel for Plaintiff
Kim R. Linquist, Ass't U.S. Attorney
U.S. Attorney's Office
550 W. Fort St., Boise ID 83724
(208) 334-1361

Counsel for Defendant
Paul W. Vogel
212 N. First Ave., Ste. G-100, Sandpoint ID 83201
(208) 265-6775

Before Noonan, O'Scannlain, and Leavy, JJ.: