FILE: The 2015 Canyon Creek Complex fire burned more than 110,000 acres, much of it in the Malheur National Forest. In 2022, the Grant County Sheriff's Office arrested a U.S. Forest Service employee for a planned burn that jumped to private property from the national forest.
Brandon Swanson
In October 2022, Grant County Sheriff Todd McKinley arrested Ricky Snodgrass, a U.S. Forest Service employee who was leading a prescribed burn that jumped to private land and burned roughly 20 acres. In February of this year, a grand jury indicted Snodgrass on a misdemeanor count of reckless burning.
His case was then moved to federal court, where it was dismissed last week. The case was a particularly striking example of longstanding tensions between federal agencies and local communities in rural Oregon.
Conrad Wilson is a reporter covering criminal justice and legal affairs for OPB. He joins us with more details on the case.
Note: The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer.
Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. In October of 2022, a prescribed burn by the U.S. Forest Service outside of John Day jumped to private land. It burned roughly 20 acres, but what happened next made national news. The Grant County Sheriff, Todd McKinley, arrested Ricky Snodgrass, a U.S. Forest service employee who was leading that prescribed burn that jumped to private land. It burned roughly 20 acres, as I mentioned. In February of this year, a grand jury indicted Snodgrass on a misdemeanor count of reckless burning. His case was then moved to federal court, where it was dismissed last week. Conrad Wilson is a reporter covering criminal justice and legal affairs for OPB. He joins us with more details on this case. Good to have you back.
Conrad Wilson: Hey, Dave.
Miller: What exactly happened on October 19th, 2022, a little south of John Day?
Wilson: The U.S. Forest Service did what’s called a prescribed burn. Their plan was to burn about 300 acres on land owned by the federal government. And the idea with these burns is that they can help reduce the risk or the severity of future wildfires by proactively burning brush and that kind of thing. So that was the goal. But later in the day on October 19th of 2022, afternoon winds kicked up and this intentional fire that was set by the forest service jumped, and it started burning private property owned by the Windy Point Cattle Company. The Forest Service got the fire under control within an hour or so, before any livestock was harmed or people, everything was OK in that regard. But the fire still burned about 20 acres of private land.
As you can imagine, the folks at the cattle ranch were pretty upset. And the person who is in charge of the fire for the Forest Service, they’re called the “burn boss.” It’s a great name, great title – burn boss. And that day the burn boss was Ricky Snodgrass, a Forest Service employee. The really shocking thing is that as the fire is still burning, the Grant County Sheriff, Todd McKinley, actually arrests Snodgrass. The sheriff blames Snodgrass for the fire burning on private land and actually said it was a crime.
Miller: Snodgrass’s arrest was captured on the sheriff’s body camera, and transcripts of their exchanges were included in legal filings. What were their exchanges like?
Wilson: Well, it’s a pretty surreal exchange. I mean, the sheriff is talking to Snodgrass, who is working to get the fire under control, and basically said he’s under arrest. Snodgrass protests. He seems like he’s in disbelief, based on the transcript. This isn’t a fire he started to be reckless, he says. He wasn’t camping or something and not being responsible. He’s working in his official capacity as a Forest Service employee to help reduce future mega wildfires. He’s implementing a government policy, he’s just really shocked. But the Grant County sheriff, Todd McKinley, doesn’t see it that way. He accuses Snodgrass of a charge called reckless burning. According to the sheriff, at one point, Snodgrass, while in handcuffs, takes off and runs to the other side of the road from where the sheriff was standing, and he’s standing on federal land. He says, “you can’t touch me over here.”
Eventually, Snodgrass is in the back of the police cruiser and says, “Can you take my handcuffs off? I’m willing to go willingly.” And the sheriff says, “You know, once the handcuffs are on, I can’t really take them off.” Snodgrass says something to the effect of, “You know, dude, this looks bad for you. Dude, this looks really bad.”
Miller: I understand the idea that the sheriff disagreed with the decision to have a controlled burn in a particular location on a particular day. But after the fire went out of control and then this federal official is working to put it out, trying to prevent more damage on private land, it’s hard to understand the purpose of arresting that federal official. How did the sheriff explain that decision?
Wilson: According to the transcript from the body camera, the sheriff told Snodgrass that even though he was the burn boss in charge of the fire, there were other qualified people there who could basically take over. I mean, it sounds like there was a team. I’ll just quote from part of the arrest. McKinley said, “I can’t look sideways on something that’s criminal just because we get along and we’re working agencies. My job requires me to hold up the law despite who it was. If you were my mother doing something criminal, I would have to deal with it.”
Miller: Was there precedent for this? A local sheriff arresting a federal firefighter, in this scenario, during the course of a prescribed burn.
Wilson: Not that I’m aware of. And frankly, that’s what made this such a significant story. I mean, it got huge national attention – coverage by NPR and The Washington Post, all across the Pacific Northwest. McKinley even said during the grand jury proceedings that he got hundreds of phone calls and that people were either calling him a pariah, an enemy, or others were calling to make him a hero.
Miller: After a long wait – because what we’re talking about happened back in the fall of 2022 – Snodgrass was indicted by a grand jury this past February. Then the case was moved to federal court. Why?
Wilson: Good question. Basically, Snodgrass, through his attorneys, asked for it to be moved from state court to federal court, so they wanted it there.
Miller: OK. So it arrives in federal court. Then the defense motion to have the entire case dismissed. What was their argument?
Wilson: Well, they said that Snodgrass was a federal employee acting in that capacity, carrying out a federal forest policy. They also argued the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Snodgrass immunity from prosecution in state court because, again, he’s acting in an official capacity.
Miller: Then the Grant County district attorney, Jim Carpenter, who, a few months earlier, had successfully presented the case to a grand jury, did not oppose the motion to dismiss the federal case. Why not?
Wilson: We don’t know, because he didn’t get back to me. Other prosecutors have mentioned that this was really a case that should not have led to an arrest. And even if that happened, it certainly should not have gone to a grand jury. I’m speculating a bit here, but based on some of those conversations, it’s a very high profile case that gets at the heart of the role of the federal government in rural communities. There’s a lot of political pressure here. This is happening in Grant County. If you’ll recall, that’s the part of the state that was ground zero for the 2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in nearby Harney County. And, really, much of that dispute was just about the role of the federal government versus states’ rights, and that kind of thing.
Miller: Let’s turn to the bigger picture in terms of forests, especially in the west. What impact could this case have on prescribed fires going forward?
Wilson: I think it’s a really good question. We don’t know officially, but certainly it’s going to send a chilling effect. I mean, this is something that, if you’re a burn boss in another state, and you’re trying to reduce the fuel load in nearby federal lands, this is something that’s going to be going through your mind before deciding whether or not to take that risk.
Miller: Conrad, thanks very much.
Wilson: You’re welcome, Dave.
Miller: Conrad Wilson is a reporter for OPB, covering criminal justice and legal affairs.
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