Brademeyer said he had worked with the Forest Service about ways to regenerate the meadow and was left with the impression that officials were willing to cut more trees there. But he also admitted that it was a bad idea for him to change paint marks.

"It was probably stupid, but I didn't think it was a large deal," Brademeyer said. "It was stupid but not criminal."

Yet the criminal charge is pending. It came more than 18 months after Brademeyer was asked in an email from Lynn Kolund, Hells Canyon District ranger in Custer, if he was responsible for the unauthorized re-marking that had been discovered by a Forest Service marking crew.

In the email, a copy of which was provided to the Journal by Brademeyer, Kolund discussed some larger trees near Brademeyer's place that were marked to be saved for wildlife benefits.

"The wildlife biologist made decisions to leave some of the marked trees for use by bird species. These were some larger trees with more limbs," Kolund said in the email to Brademeyer. "The crew ran out of paint to finish the job, and when they returned it looked like someone had used some black paint to mark more trees.

"I was curious; did you help us out and mark these trees?" Kolund asked.