Arizona Man Arrested for Living Illegally on National Forest Land for a Decade

An Arizona man is facing up to five years in prison after being caught living illegally on national forest grounds for nearly a decade, with roughly a half-ton of trash strewn around his campsite in what one U.S. Forest Service officer described as “possibly one of the worst residential cases he has seen,” according to federal court filings reviewed by The Independent.

“I was flabbergasted by the amount of debris in the area,” the officer wrote in one of numerous citations given to the man, identified in the filings as Mark Aaron Gatz.

Gatz, who was arrested June 25 and ordered detained as a potential flight risk, told authorities he had been living in the Tonto National Forest, the fifth-largest national forest in the U.S., for “about eight years,” and in that specific location for about two.

He was spotted by officers along a two-track dirt trail amid an area popular for hiking, mountain biking, and off-roading.

The Forest Service had received complaints of “several large structures, several man-made fire pits, several years’ worth of trash, household goods scattered throughout the forest of roughly an acre,” according to the citation, which was filed June 29 in Arizona federal court. It says there was “roughly half of [an] acre of resources ruined due to so much trash and goods on the ground for an extended period of time.”

“While walking around the campsite | observed approximately 1,000 pounds of trash at the campsite,” the citation goes on. “The trash consisted of tires, plastic bags. trash bags, aluminum cans and other items of trash. | observed a canopy structure for his sport utility vehicle. The canopy structure was being utilized as a car port.”

Gatz, who is 65 years-old, according to public records, also had a fireplace with “active embers and a cooking station with 10-12 frying pans,” as well as “[d]ebris [that] consisted of three ladders, six to eight totes overfilled with debris… five black 55-gallon drums… eight tires, four bike frames, five gallons of motor oil, plywood, and other miscellaneous lumber around the campsite,” the citation alleges.

He was known to the officers from previous encounters over the course of a year, and had at least six outstanding federal arrest warrants for building a campfire during fire restrictions, constructing on forest lands, unsanitary conditions and occupying national forest as a residence, the citation states.

Gatz was arrested and ordered detained as a potential flight risk, according to the filings. The laws he is accused of violating include:

A June 30 detention order says Gatz has a prior criminal history and a record of previous failures to appear in court for violating both residency and fire restrictions “despite prior warnings and citations for doing so.” It is unclear if Gatz was living in the national forest because he was experiencing homelessness.

Taking up permanent residence on U.S. Forest Service lands is a violation of federal law. In general, campers are limited to a 14-day stay within a 30-day period; anything beyond that, along with erecting structures or dumping personal property is considered unauthorized residential use.

“Long-term non-recreational campers present myriad concerns for forest officials, who seek to balance public access and resource conservation,” a 2018 Forest Service report said. “In addition to biophysical impacts because of waste, disposal of chemicals, soil compaction, and damage to vegetation, nonrecreational campers can alter the social environment being shared with other forest visitors.”

Arrests for living in a national forest typically follow a history of non-compliance, according to federal officials. Short of that, citations can result in large fines and a ban from the area.

In 2020, following a series of brazen land-use violations, a judge barred 35-year-old David Lesh from entering any Forest Service property, anywhere in the U.S., for a social media post showing himself defecating in a lake in the Maroon Bells Scenic Area, a federally managed parcel near Aspen, Colorado.

Still, removing people from national forests can occasionally be fraught with controversy.

In 2023, the National Homelessness Law Center called on the feds to stop arresting people for living on public lands and shift to a housing- and services-only approach, after undercover Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management police officers shot a disabled man in the back during a removal operation and left paralyzed from the waist down.

He and his family had been living in the Payette National Forest near Boise, Idah, after their landlord reportedly evicted them from their home and they were unable to find space in area shelters.

Gatz is set to appear before a federal judge on July 6. His court-appointed attorney did not immediately respond on Friday to a request for comment.