Wednesday, March 11, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
FOREST: Citizens
are key to public
lands9 health
Continued from page 1
process that I started studying
criminal justice,= he said. <I
just took it one step at a time.
Eventually I put all the puzzle
pieces together.=
The completed puzzle
combined his love for the out-
doors with another passion:
<I9m driven to think like a cop,
to work with other cops to pro-
tect people and lands,= he said.
Starting with the National
Park Service, Perl eventually
gained permanent status at
Grand Canyon National Park.
Then he shifted agencies, to
the U.S. Forest Service.
<It was more independent
work being an LEO (law
enforcement officer) with the
Forest Service, a little more
investigative work,= he said.
In 2000, Perl accepted an
LEO position on the Flathead
National Forest in Kalispell,
Montana, and then transferred
to the Sisters Ranger District
in 2003.
He attributes the successes
he attained here to the rela-
tionships he built with other
law enforcement personnel
and with the community.
<It really gets down to
cooperation,= he said. <It9s
really a team effort.=
Perl9s work involved pro-
tecting resources and people
in an increasingly heavily
trafficked forest. He investi-
gated everything from illegal
camping and resource damage
to wildland fire. The work-
load has grown heavier and
heavier as Sisters has been
<discovered.=
<It9s high-use,= he said.
<It9s almost become high-use
year-round.=
One of the biggest chal-
lenges of the job was simply
determining where to put his
efforts.
<You can9t investigate
everything; it just takes so
much time,= he said. <So you
SUDOKU
have to prioritize.=
And on any given day, an
incident could change those
priorities.
Partnerships and coopera-
tion are key to gaining infor-
mation and for the safety of
an officer who is often work-
ing alone in remote areas. Perl
always knew that other law
enforcement personnel in the
area had his back, as he had
theirs.
<Somebody will come,
because of the relationships,=
he said. <That9s extremely
important from an officer-
safety standpoint.=
In recent years, Perl was
increasingly called upon to
address illegal camping in the
forest around Sisters 4 often
involving homeless people,
including families. It was
a challenging line to walk,
requiring Perl to enforce the
law with a high level of com-
passion and understanding. It
was never a simple, straight-
forward situation to manage,
and, again, it required cooper-
ation with local agencies and
community members.
<You can only manage it,
because people have such lim-
itations,= Perl said. <You can9t
just move them out.=
Perl and his community
partners sought to find help
for those who could and
would take it, to make it pos-
sible for them to change their
situation. And they had some
successes. But the problem
persists, without any simple
solution.
<It9s a growing situation
and we9re well-aware of it,=
Perl said. <The agency is deal-
ing with it to the best of their
ability.=
Perl is easing into retire-
ment with no specific plans
other than spending time with
family.
<I9m not making any con-
crete decisions right now,= he
said.
It9s a certainty, however,
that whatever the future holds,
it will involve being out on
the public lands Perl has loved
and defended for decades.
Level: Easy
Answer: Page 22
17
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