United States v. Shawn Parker

Shawn Parker, a commercial snowmobile operator, was convicted on two counts of conducting a “work activity or service” on United States Forest Service land without a special use authorization and one count of interfering with a Forest Service officer engaged in the performance of his official duties, both violations of 36 C.F.R. Part 261. We affirm his conviction. Special use permits are required for certain activities, such as commercial ventures, that occur on Forest Service lands or affect such property. Although Parker’s clients congregated on a county road subject to an easement, the Forest Service had jurisdiction over his activities because they “affect[ed], threaten[ed], or endangered] property of the United States administered by the Forest Service,” id. § 261.1(a)(2), and because they took place “in the National Forest System.” Id. § 261.1(a)(1). We reject Parker’s claim that the regulatory framework governing Forest Service control over roads is unconstitutionally vague.

Background

This case focuses on two separate incidents involving Forest Service Road 4300, also known as Salmon la Sac Highway (“the Highway”), in the Okanogan-Wenat-chee National Forest (the…