ELR Citation: ELR 20107
No(s). 04-30316 (9th Cir. May 26, 2005)

The Ninth Circuit affirmed individuals' convictions for stringing ropes above a proposed logging and emergency medical helicopter landing site during a tree-sitting protest in the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana. Despite the individuals' argument to the contrary, 18 U.S.C. §1864(a), which prohibits the use of hazardous devices on federal land to obstruct the harvesting of timber, is not unconstitutionally vague as applied to visible and unmodified ropes strung above a proposed helicopter landing site. The statute provides fair warning to a person of common intelligence that it is a crime to hang ropes over a helicopter landing site with the intent to obstruct or harass the harvesting of timber.