Experts weigh in on Oregon arrest of U.S. Forest Service 'Burn Boss'

SALEM, Ore. — Oregon's fourth least populated county was thrust into the spotlight last week after the Grant County sheriff arrested a U.S. Forest Service 'Burn Boss'over a prescribed burn that escaped onto private land.

In a news release, the county's district attorney, Jim Carpenter, said charges have not been filed yet because the case is still active with the Grant County Sheriff's Office.

"In this instance, there is no hurry to make a charging decision," the press release said. "While the Sheriff briefs the District Attorney from time to time about the investigation, the District Attorney does not have an investigative function and is not actively involved in the investigation of this matter."

Carpenter's news release indicates his support for Sheriff Todd McKinley's arrest of 39-year-old Forest Service employee Rick Snodgrass.

“I respect the Sheriff’s discretion and decision to make an arrest in this case," he wrote. "I have no reason to doubt that the pending investigation will be conducted in a fair and professional manner and that the result will be thorough, comprehensive and complete.”

Snodgrass faces a charge of reckless burning, a class A misdemeanor in Oregon. Experts say getting that charge to stick against a federal employee arrested while performing a function of his job is not going to be an easy feat.

"As long as this individual was actually carrying out their job, which by all indications is what they were doing, then criminal charges are just really unlikely," said Chris Shortell, a political science professor at Portland State University.

Oregon State Code defines reckless burning as "recklessly damaging property of another by fire or explosion." It defines "reckless" in culpability statutes as being "aware of and consciously disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur or that the circumstance exists."

Shortell pointed out that without knowing the details of the case it's hard to say if there are other factors involved.

"It's a complicated case and pretty unlikely to be successful in terms of actually bringing charges against the employee unless there is other information that we just aren't aware of at this point," Shortell said. "Assuming, as we have had reported thus far, that this was an employee carrying out a planned and intentional burn of U.S. Forest Service lands in order to reduce the risk of more serious wildfires, I think it's going to be very difficult to find that individual criminally responsible."

In an open letter to all Forest Service employees, Forest Service Chief Randy Moore backed Snodgrass and condemned the arrest.

"In my opinion, this arrest was highly inappropriate under these circumstances, and I will not stand idly by without fully defending the Burn Boss and all employees carrying out their official duties as federal employees," his statement read.

He pointed out that the prescribed burn plan had been approved by the agency administrator and that "they were engaging in appropriate, coordinated, and vital prescribed fire work alongside state and other colleagues."

It's not the first time this region has been in the spotlight as a result of an arrest made because of a fire. Neighboring Harney County made national headlines when a militant group led by antigovernment extremist Ammon Bundy took over the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in response to a federal court's intervention in an arson case.

Harney County ranchers 73-year-old Dwight Lincoln Hammond Jr. and his 46-year-old son Steven Dwight Hammond pleaded guilty and were convicted of arson for intentionally setting fire to federal lands. The case was originally adjudicated in a Pendleton court and the two were sentenced to a few months in jail after arguing that the five-year mandatory minimum for arson of public lands was unconstitutional.

The refuge occupation came after a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the sentences and ordered that the Hammonds be resentenced “in compliance with the law.” The father and son were ultimately sentenced to five-year prison terms in October of 2015.

In July of 2018, President Donald Trump issued full pardons to the Hammonds.

The arson case came amid tension between federal land managers and ranchers in the area over cattle grazing rights. A tension, Shortell says, is likely an underlying factor in this arrest.

"We don't have all of the information at this point but the parallels to my mind that exist are the tension that exists between local communities and federal agencies that oversee public lands," he said.

In 2020, McKinley successfully ran against former Grant County Sheriff Glenn Palmer, who had publicly supported the Malheur Wildlife Refuge occupation. He had previously worked as Palmer's undersheriff and in 2020 was quoted by the Blue Mountain Eagle as saying he left because he did not like the direction the department was headed in.

He promised to unify the county in the face of polarizing political tensions.

"The current sheriff was elected on a platform of wanting to espouse less extremist views, so it's interesting to have this arrest come out in this context," Shortell said.

Dan Thanell, an Oregon lawyer who often represents law enforcement, said he does not believe tension between ranchers and federal officials had anything to do with this arrest.

"I don't think a law enforcement officer is going to take the decision to arrest a federal employee for an alleged crime in the course of a federal employee's scope of work, I don't think that is going to be done lightly," he said.

The sheriff's office declined to comment on the case, noting that it is an active investigation. The U.S. Forest Service also declined to comment for the same reason. When asked, Jon McMillan, a spokesperson for the department, said the agency would not be conducting an internal investigation into the escaped burn.

"Internal reviews are typically conducted on escaped fires that lead to wildfires," he said, estimating that the escaped flames burned approximately 18 acres of Chad Holiday's private land.

Holiday, who owns the ranch that was damaged in the fire, said he was "advised not to talk about it anymore."