Man found amid 1,000 pounds of trash in national forest said he'd lived on parkland for 8 years

Mark Aaron Gatz pleaded guilty to unlawfully residing in the Tonto National Forest and violating federal fire restrictions. Arrested on June 25, Gatz had lived at an illegal campsite for eight years, where he operated a hot wood burning campfire. United States Forest Service officials reported that the makeshift site was surrounded by approximately 1,000 pounds of trash. Gatz had previously faced multiple citations before his eventual arrest in the Arizona Sonoran desert region.