Forest Protection Latest News

William Tash, III, of Howland, Maine, pled guilty to a number of charges in Lincoln District Court on 3 March 2009 as a result of lengthy investigation led by Maine Forest Ranger Thomas Liba. The charges stemmed from a complaint filed by a landowner who reported that their land in Lincoln had been logged without their permission. The resulting investigation revealed that Mr. Tash had logged the 7.7 acre parcel of land, trucked some of the wood himself, and hired truckers to haul the remaining wood. Mr. Tash did all this with an invalid Harvest Notification, which is required by State law for both harvesting and trucking wood.

Mr. Tash pled guilty to Theft by Unauthorized Taking, 14 counts of Trip Ticket violations, and Providing Inaccurate Information on a Harvest Notification and was ordered to pay $7,183.38 in restitution to the rightful landowner, and $450 in fines. Forest Rangers invested nearly 200 man-hours during the investigation as they interviewed dozens of individuals throughout central and southern Maine.