Last week, John Samuel Rahe, 50, of Marana, Ariz., was sentenced by U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie A. Bowman to one year of probation and ordered to pay $10,000 to the Bureau of Land Management for damaging vegetation and soil at Ironwood Forest National Monument. Rahe previously pleaded guilty to resource damage and littering.
In March 2015, Rahe drove his utility vehicle illegally off road within National Monument boundaries, running over and destroying two small Saguaros, a Palo Verde tree, and over thirty more cactuses and shrubs. When his vehicle became stuck, he attempted to free it by attaching its winch to an eight-foot Saguaro, resulting in the toppling of that cactus.
The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Land Management.