An unmarked dirt trail in the Tonto National Forest once gave police an indication of what was going on in the park, and it turns it out was much worse than they thought.
In 2025, an acre of land was being investigated, with an officer describing it as one of the “worst” cases he has ever seen. This June, forest rangers were not prepared for how things had progressed.
‘I was flabbergasted by the amount of debris in the area.’
Garbage in
Two U.S. national forest rangers came upon an illegal site in Tonto National Forest in central Arizona in June, and with it was 65-year-old Mark Aaron Gatz.
According to documents acquired by ABC News, Gatz was operating an illegal campsite that contained not just a wood-burning fire —
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