RANGERS FIND CAREER PATH TRODDEN WITH THREAT, ABUSE

WASHINGTON - For the nation's forest rangers, the serenity of the
woods increasingly is giving way to confrontations with unruly visitors.

Attacks, threats and lesser altercations involving Forest Service
workers reached an all-time high last year, according to government
documents obtained by a public employees' advocacy group. Incidents
ranged from gunshots to stalking and verbal abuse. The agency tally
shows 477 such reports in 2005, compared with 88 logged a year
earlier. The total in 2003 was 104; in 1995, it was 34.

Among the serious incidents, a Forest Service worker was run down by
a man in a snowmobile in California's Lake Tahoe Basin Management
area. The man pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon.

Also, Forest Service workers were shot at while trying to confiscate
a marijuana plantation in California's Angeles National Forest. Two
loaded shotguns and more than 78 kilograms of processed marijuana were seized.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility obtained the
documents through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The non-profit environmental advocacy group said the government's
methods for collecting the data have not changed over the years. It
said some of the blame for the growing violence in the woods is
because of greater access to remote lands and waterways by motorized equipment.

"Things like off-road vehicles are taking people into the backcountry
to get away from all rules of civilization, and trouble appears to be
ensuing," said the group's executive director, Jeff Ruch.

Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, who oversees the Forest Service,
did not disagree entirely with that assessment. He said Friday that
while he had not seen the report and could not confirm its accuracy,
it was true that a huge increase in the use of off-highway vehicles
had likely contributed to a rise in assaults. "It doesn't mean the
policy is bad or OHV users are bad people," he said.

Forest Service officials also put some of the blame for the growing
violence on increasing border enforcement and drug-related activity.
They say they suspect public lands have become more popular for
marijuana gardens because of the vast remote locations patrolled only
intermittently by law enforcement personnel.