The July discovery of a pipe bomb by three
backpackers in New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness was thought to be a
freak incident. Then Forest Service officials started comparing
notes: It was the fourth time someone had found a bomb or explosive
in the wilderness in the past 13 months.
That
realization jarred Forest Service employees who live in Catron
County, now well known for its ordinances “taking back” public
lands. Officials say they haven’t a clue about who stashed the
explosives. “It could be an individual, it could be a paramilitary
group that trains in there, it could be a militia group, it could
be war-games groups,” says Allan Funkhouser, criminal investigator
for the Forest Service. Agency officials have taken some flak for
failing to disclose or discuss the presence of any of the
explosives until July 7 – shortly after the pipe bomb turned up.
“They made a bad judgment call by not talking
about this, and they put one of their own people in danger,” says
Kieran Suckling of the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity in
Silver City.
Forest Service ranger Jay Cooley
failed to take the names or phone numbers of the backpackers who
gave him the pipe bomb; he also hiked for two days with it in his
backpack before turning it over to a law enforcement officer. “Tony
Davis
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Hikers find bomb in wilderness.
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