Will

This case involves a claim by a logging contractor against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), 28 U.S.C. § 2671 et seq., for property damage sustained by his road grader while it was parked in a national forest.

FACTS

During the summer of 1989, a timber sale and a ponderosa pine tree study required logging in the same area of the Colville National Forest in Washington state. The Forest Service had sold timber to a sawmill. The sawmill had contracted with Garry Will to cut and remove that timber. The Forest Service had selected and marked ponderosa pine trees to be logged. It contracted with a lumber company which subcontracted with Larry Dragnich to harvest those trees.

Before the Fourth of July weekend, Will parked a road grader and other heavy equipment off a dead-end road in the forest. Removing the equipment from the forest in the evenings and on weekends was not economically feasible. Parking the equipment in a secluded area protected it from vandalism.

During the weekend, the Forest Service’s agent, Todd Gordon, met with Dragnich and walked around the study area. They found Will’s grader parked next to a marked selected tree. To cut that tree,…