Timber trespasser sentenced

A man accused of illegally cutting down 1,034 beetle-infested trees on National Forest land was sentenced in federal court in Missoula on March 5.

Charles McAlpine was ordered by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah Lynch to one year of probation, $11,430 in restitution to the Forest Service and a $5,000 fine.

McAlpine had pleaded guilty on Jan. 7 after reaching an unconditional plea agreement with Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Racicot.

According to Racicot, a Forest Service employee first reported a possible timber trespass near Geifer Creek, south of U.S. 2 and Bear Creek, on Nov. 30, 2009. The employee suspected McAlpine had removed the trees because he had the only access to the site across his property.

Forest Service officer Brad Treat responded to the site and counted about 200 missing trees and observed roads built from McAlpine’s property to the Forest Service land. Treat also photographed a skidder on McAlpine’s property.

Treat returned to the site on Oct. 17, 2010 and noticed fresh cutting and skidder tracks. He called McAlpine for an interview, and McAlpine allegedly admitted over the phone to cutting the trees on the Forest Service land.

McAlpine allegedly told Treat the trees were infested with beetles and that the Forest Service had been “dragging its feet on a fuel reduction project,” Racicot said in his filing. McAlpine allegedly said he used the trees for firewood but that not all the wood was consumed for personal use.

The Forest Service also interviewed a logger hired to work on McAlpine’s property. The logger said that after he completed the work on McAlpine’s property, McAlpine asked him to cut the trees on the Forest Service land. The logger said he cut the trees in 2009 and 2010. He said he gave four cords of firewood to McAlpine and sold 50-60 cords to other people.

Forest Service personnel conducting a stump cruise on Nov. 5, 2010 found 1,034 cut trees and determined the value of the trees to be $36,968.

“Many of the stumps had been covered with dirt and debris in an apparent attempt to conceal evidence of the cutting,” Racicot said in his filing.