The culture of theft within the Forest Service

I need to report something to my fellow Americans. Something that has bothered me for years. I'm referring to the culture of theft within the Forest Service. Theft by Forest Service employees. I ask you to please read this writing with an open mind, and to understand that while I harbor no ill will toward the decent individuals within the Forest Service, and there are many, I am sickened by the staggering employee theft that takes place within that agency. Let me share with you what I have personally seen of this ongoing situation.

I grew up in La Grande, Oregon, and lived next door to a Forest Service worker named Harold Schwebke. He was a high ranking employee in that time and place. One day Harold came home with a few chain saws and other items of Forest Service property. It was all for sale, by him, to anyone with cash. The situation at that time concerning Forest Service budgets was criminal. Each year the different districts were given x amount of dollars to do their job. If they didn't use all of that budgeted amount, their budget would be chopped the next year by the amount over extended the previous year. Meaning they had to justify their budget. The problem was, they were over budgeted and there was money left over each year. So what they did was to create a criminal enterprise within the Forest Service that funneled property out, through employee theft, to be sold on the open market. Then the property was accounted for as damaged, outdated, or destroyed. Thus, justifying the overage in the coming years funds. Harold told me this himself. He also told me that it happened in every Forest Service district across the country, every year. I can only imagine how many millions and millions of dollars in theft took place, and may still take place with this criminal enterprise. That was my first knowledge of the culture of theft that takes place within the Forest Service. I was 12 years old.

Through the years, I have know many Forest Service employees. And I am sad to say, that each of them was a thief. Although I know that not all Forest Service employees are that way. I had a room mate when I lived in Marcola, Oregon who worked with the Forest Service. Mostly in fire prevention. Each year he would go off to different fires to work. And when he came home from short breaks, his truck would be loaded down with stolen goods. Sleeping bags, tents, fire fighting gear, whatever he could get his hands on. The items were sold by him to the public. Granted, this was a bad choice for a room mate, and when I found out about his activities, I moved as soon as I could afford it. But not before I got to talk to several of his fellow employees. And as it turned out, they were all involved it theft. And all laughing about it. They stole these sleeping bags and other items as they were being delivered to fire fighter camps. And they made some hefty cash on the side. Sad, but common behavior within that agency, according to them.

When I lived in Bend, Oregon, I did carpentry work for a wealthy man named Jim Layton on his properties in Bend. Jim had been a logger for years in Oregon, and had passed his business on to his son and daughter. Well, the whole bunch of them were busted for timber theft, marched in front of the cameras, and labeled the biggest timber thieves in US history at that time. But what the prosecutors didn't know then, and never did learn, was that Jim Layton had the help of a friend of his, a Forest Service timber cruiser also named Jim, although I never did know his last name. This Forest Service timber cruiser used to hang around alot and run his mouth to me. I have one of those faces which seems to cause people to confess crimes. Don't ask me why, because I don't know. He told me that he and Jim Layton worked together to move out the boundaries of timber sales they were working to enlarge the tracts and yield more timber than Layton was entitled to in his original purchase. Forest Service Jim told me he provided Layton with cans of special spray paint which was the authentic paint used to mark boundary trees.He coached Layton on the proper methods of timber theft, and also worked behind the scenes to help cover Layton's crimes. He told me Layton paid him a percentage of the take, and that he was a silent partner in some of Jim's enterprises. He was never busted. They didn't roll on him.

When I lived in Mapleton Oregon, in the Mapleton Ranger District, I was witness to an extreme conflict of interest concerning a retired Forest Service employee named Lynn Hood. Lynn's wife owned Frank's Place tavern at that time. Shortly after Lynn's retirement, his buddies in the Forest Service arranged for him to get a golden parachute. The Forest Service gave his wife a community grant to fix up her tavern. Many thousands from what I understand. That money should never have gone to a Forest Service retiree. The conflict of interest stunk to high heaven. But that may just be the tip of the iceberg concerning Forest Service golden parachute theft.

There is a Forest Service property above the cemetery in Mapleton, Oregon which lies behind a locked gate, with signs barring admittance. Behind that gate is a stand of old growth timber. Beautiful trees. One day I was walking up through that area for exercise, and I saw two Forest Service biologists cutting up two old growth trees into fire wood. This was not in a wood cutting area. I went back there after they were done and counted the rings on the trees. One was 170+ years old, and the other was 180+ years old. There were no white men in that area back then. Those trees were old growth. About six to seven feet across. I have no idea as to their worth. I would suggest thousands of dollars, as they were huge. They took the wood home and used it for fire wood. Felony theft, as Forest Service employees are not allowed to make use of forest products in that manner. These men could never have done that without everyone of their supervisors knowing it, and turning a blind eye to it. They are employed to this day in the Forest Service. If you or I had cut those trees down and stole that wood, we would have done time in a fed facility. But not them. The Forest Service cops did nothig, and will do nothing about it.

The most recent theft I know about was reported to me by an employee of the Forest Service. He is a maintenance worker. Working the parks. He told me that he accidentally left his Forest Service tool truck inside the Forest Service compound unlocked one week while he was gone out of town. When he got back, the truck had been emptied of tools. I asked him what happened to the tools. He told me they were taken by his fellow employees. Taken home by his fellow employees.

Now, I've just told you folks a few of the things that I personally know about. I am one person. I only have the ability to come into contact with a few such employees in the normal course of life. And while I do know of many more incidents, I think you get the picture.

You may ask yourself, where are the Forest Service cops in all this? Well, they are right there in the middle of it. But the Green Wall of silence protects these workers. Theft is a huge part of Forest Service culture and always has been. Forest Service cops protect the timber for the timber industry. Their job is to keep you and me from getting our hands on any of the timber industries wood. They don't look for crime within their own agency. If they did, they would be employed full time busting their own. The agency is set up to protect theft by employees. And it goes from the top Rangers on down.


The Forest Service considers all forest lands to be "their property." Forest Service property, not public owned property. And they are right. It does seem to belong to them. Especially in the Bush years, when the president himself is a thief and insider trader. Their boss, George Bush, is a just the kind of man many of these Forest Service employees dream of.

It saddens me, that an agency with so much potential has such a dark side. And it is sad that the good people inside the Forest Service don't work to clean it up.