Man found living in national forest surrounded by 1,000 pounds of trash: Officials
One officer said he was "flabbergasted" by the amount of debris in the campsite.
A man who was apparently living in an Arizona national forest for eight years was found in an encampment surrounded by about 1,000 pounds of trash, according to officials.
On June 25, two U.S. national forest rangers found the 65-year-old Mark Aaron Gatz, at his illegal campsite at Tonto National Park in central Arizona, according to a probable cause statement. The campsite, located along National Forest System Road 1006, contained a wood-burning fire.
Gatz told the officers he had been living in that location for two years and had been living in the Payson Pine area of the forest for a total of eight years, according to the statement.
Federal regulations limit camping in national forests to 14 days within a 30-day period, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Length of camping time is limited in order to protect natural resources from degradation and ensure fair access to all visitors, according to the USDA.
When officers found Gatz, he had six federal outstanding arrest warrants for previous violations, including building a fire during restrictions; constructing on National Forest Service lands; occupying a national forest as a residence; as well as multiple unsanitary conditions violations, according to the court documents.
One of the officers had previously issued warnings and a violation notice to Gatz for having the campfires during fire restrictions, according to the probable cause statement. Gatz allegedly told the officers that he was aware of the current fire restrictions but required the fire to eat.
Gatz was arrested on the six outstanding federal warrants and booked into the Coconino County Detention Facility in Flagstaff, court documents state.
A previous violation was issued in May 2025, when an unmarked dirt trail led forest officers to a campsite filled with trash, clothing, pans, tools and plastic cups, according to a probably cause statement. The officer had also observed the same scene the month prior, according to the court document.
On July 4, 2025, officers patrolling the area in response to complaints observed a "large messy campsite" that contained several years' worth of trash, according to a probable cause statement. Household goods had been scattered throughout about an acre of land, and one officer described the scene as "one of the worst residential cases he has seen in the entire forest," the document states. Gatz was cited for unsanitary conditions and household trash dumped all over the site.
Gatz was cited again on Feb. 22, 2026, when forest officers observed a red and white trailer surrounded by tarps; four lines of string that held clothing, towels, sheets and sleeping bags; and a 3-foot campfire constructed with stones and clay and a cooking station that contained about a dozen frying pans, according to court documents.
The trailer had piles of debris stacked all around it, including three ladders, four bike frames, eight tires, plywood, 5 gallons of motor oil and five black 55-gallon drums.
"I was flabbergasted by the amount of debris in the area," the responding officer wrote in the probable cause statement.
Forest officers came into contact with Gatz again on May 7, 2026, where they observed an estimated 1,000 pounds of trash at the campsite, according to a probable cause statement. The trash and debris included tires, plastic bags, trash bags and aluminum cans. Officers also observed an illegal campfire built with stone to cook food as well as a makeshift canopy structure being used as a canopy to copy Gatz's SUV, the court document states.
The officer wrote that Gatz had been living in the area for several months and was disturbing the surrounding vegetation.
In that incident, Gatz was issued a mandatory court appearance for the citations observed.
After the most recent incident, Gatz was ordered to appear in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in Flagstaff on July 6, court documents show.
Gatz pleaded guilty to a violation of fire restrictions and residential use of the forest without a permit and was sentenced to time served and three years of probation, SFGate reported. A spokesperson for the U.S. District of Arizona did not immediately to ABC News' request for comment.
Gatz could not be reached for comment. His public defender, Luke Stephen Mulligan, did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.
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