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 — a huge problem in itself — but also 1,000 pounds of trash.
Gatz’s encampment was entrenched in garbage that had built up over two years of him living in that location, with the man telling officers that he had been living in the forest for eight years in total.
WCNC-TV reported that the trash was scattered over about half an acre of forest service land and was causing permanent damage to the ecosystem. The garbage included items like tires, plastic bags, regular trash bags, aluminum cans, and more.
Aside from finding Gatz’s illegal campfire, they also saw he had made a canopy to go over his SUV that was parked in the forest.
“I was flabbergasted by the amount of debris in the area,” a responding officer reportedly wrote in response to the mess.
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Bless this mess
This latest discovery was part of an extensive rap sheet that had been built by the older male; police soon discovered Gatz had six outstanding federal warrants from previous forest-related violations.
The citations go back to May 2025 when forest officials followed a dirt trail to a campsite littered with clothes, tools, plastic, and other trash. Authorities determined it was there for at least a month.
In early July 2025, officers reportedly responded to complaints of a “large messy campsite” that contained years’ worth of trash. It was described at the time by one officer as “one of the worst residential cases” he had seen in the entire forest.
Gatz was cited for unsanitary conditions due to his household trash being scattered around the land.
Then, in February 2026, forest officers found a red and white trailer that was surrounded by tarps and string used as clothes lines, seemingly to dry towels, sheets, and sleeping bags. This belonged to Gatz, who was also allegedly operating a 3-foot campfire made of stone and clay.
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Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis/Getty Images
Camp scamp
The serial camper has been in violation of U.S. Department of Agriculture rules surrounding camping in a national forest. The rules state that camping for more than 14 days in a 30-day period or more than 30 days in a 365-day period is prohibited.
According to ABC News, Gatz pleaded guilty to a violation of fire restrictions for his recent activities, along with residential use of the forest without a permit. He was sentenced to three years of probation.
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