Man accused of leaving half-ton of trash behind while living in forest for years, officials say

TONTO NATIONAL FOREST, Ariz. (AZFamily/Gray News) — An Arizona man is accused of living illegally in the Tonto National Forest for years and accumulating about a half-ton of trash at a campsite in what a U.S. Forest Service officer described as one of the “worst residential cases” seen.

Mark Aaron Gatz was arrested last month and faces multiple counts, including living on forest grounds and lighting a fire during Stage 2 restrictions, according to court documents. He faces up to five years in prison.

During the years he lived in the forest, Gatz amassed about 1,000 pounds of trash at his campsite in the Strawberry-Pine area of the forest, court documents said.

The U.S. Forest Service had received complaints last year about “one large messy camp.”

Coming across Gatz’s campsite last year, a U.S. Forest Service officer said he saw trash such as clothing, pans, plastic cups and tools, along with a four-foot wooden structure to house the tools. The officer issued warnings to Gatz and told him to clean up the site and leave the forest.

He and other officers returned several times to find tires, plastic bags, cans and other trash littering the campsite, court documents said.

The campsite also had an SUV with tarps over it, a trailer, ladders, totes with debris, bike frames, gallons of motor oil, miscellaneous lumber and a 3-foot-tall fireplace constructed from rocks and clay, with frying pans. Officers also found string lines with bedding, towels and clothing hung up.

A second U.S. Forest Service officer said in court documents that he was “flabbergasted by the amount of debris in the area.”

“There was roughly a half of acre of resources ruined due to so much trash and goods on the ground for an extended period of time,” a third Forest Service officer wrote.

The officer also said that Gatz left a fire not fully extinguished.

Gatz told officers that he was aware of the fire restrictions but needed a fire to eat, court documents said.

He also told them that he had been camping at that site near Strawberry and Pine for about two years but had been living in the Tonto National Forest for about eight years.

Campers are only allowed a 14-day stay in the Tonto National Forest.

Gatz was arrested by U.S. Forest Service officers on June 25 and booked into the Coconino County Jail in Flagstaff. He had six outstanding federal arrest warrants for prior violations.