METH IN FORESTS A DANGER TO VISITORS

Mark Twain Forest Holds Dumps And Labs, Officials Say

Federal officials are warning visitors to Mark Twain National Forest to
watch their step, saying the sprawling tract of southern and central
Missouri offers cover for methamphetamine makers.

While no visitor to a national forest has been killed by someone cooking
the drug, forestry officials believe the risk is rising. They say meth
cooks typically are addicted to the drug, which can make users
violence-prone. Sheriffs say forest cooks have used everything from
automatic weapons to pipe-bomb booby traps to guard their labs.

Sgt. Mark Williams of the Phelps County Sheriff's Department said while
that agency has never found a booby trap, he's sure they're out there.
Phelps County is home to portions of the Mark Twain National Forest.

"What we've found are more and more dump sites," he said. "People cook
their meth, take off and leave everything there."

Meth makers almost always leave a dangerous heap of caustic and volatile
chemicals, which in some cases have ruined habitats and injured visitors.

"It's probably luck that more people haven't been injured," said Tommy La
Nier, who coordinates the U.S. Forest Service's anti-drug efforts with
other federal and state agencies.

The forest is also a popular site to produce other drugs.

"We see quite a bit of marijuana grown in the forest, too," Williams said.

In 2000, the Forest Service and local agencies uncovered about 450 drug
labs and meth-related chemical dump sites in Mark Twain's 1.5 million acres
in 29 counties.

Authorities were on pace to top that number last year before the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11 forced federal agents to concentrate on homeland security.

Agents have already found at least 30 labs and dump sites so far this year,
a number expected to go up rapidly this summer as visitors stumble upon lab
sites. About 1.5 million people are expected to visit the forest this year.

Methamphetamine is an easy-to-make stimulant whose ingredients include
legal items such as over-the-counter cold pills and ether. A typical forest
meth lab looks like a campsite; cooks usually work at night, abandoning the
lab before sunrise.

"They made meth in the cities and they were caught. They make meth on farms
and they sometimes get caught. But they go in the middle of the forest and
they know nobody will ever find them," said Michael Gaston, a Forest
Service agent.

Williams agrees.

"If they're not cooking it in their house, they think no one will connect
it to them," he said.

Four federal agents and five uniformed officers patrol Mark Twain's 7,000
miles of roads.

Gaston said dozens of labs could be operating in the forest on any given
night, but finding them in the hilly, wooded Ozarks back country is difficult.

Likewise, Williams' department is understaffed compared with other
sheriff's departments.

"We've got a lot of national forest in our county. It's a lot for one or
two guys to patrol," he said. The department has one officer assigned only
to meth cases and two or three who constantly patrol the forest for meth
making and other activity.

Aerial surveillance has been the Forest Service's most effective tool in
finding large-scale marijuana cultivation. But Gaston said that flyovers
don't work for meth labs, which at night can be mistaken for campsites.

Ground patrols aren't much more successful. Agents said that if they drove
all day, every day, it would take more than a year to cover every stretch
of the forest's roads and trails.

"They're not just off the main roads; they could be off the main roads by
10 miles or more," said Tim Lynn, an ex-Secret Service agent now with the
Forest Service.

Officials say hidden cameras and more sophisticated equipment soon could be
headed to Mark Twain and other forests. The Forest Service is trying to
steer more money to sheriffs of the 29 counties that include national
forest land, but sheriffs say the grants haven't been big enough to make a
significant dent in forest meth production.

Williams said money to help his department patrol the forest has decreased,
while meth and marijuana production have not. He said the department took
down a large meth lab a couple of years ago in the forest.

"I think we're going to see an increase in production of meth in the
forest," Williams said. "We're always encouraging people to be careful, and
when they suspect something, please be sure to report it to us."