Conservation Officer Killed in Pennsylvania

David GroveI've been late posting on this incident in Pennsylvania. Someone mentioned it to me in passing at the New England Crime Bake mystery conference this weekend where, ironically, I was asked to speak about the challenge of writing realistic police procedurals.

Today, several readers of my book have sent me links to this breaking news story. The lede reads like something I actually wrote for The Poacher's Son:

It's a dangerous job. Along with checking hunting licenses, responding to nuisance deer complaints and disposing of road kill, wildlife conservation officers with the Pennsylvania Game Commission serve arrest warrants, confront armed trespassers and disarm wildlife poachers, sometimes while alone at night on remote country roads.

That's what Wildlife Conservation Officer David L. Grove was doing about 10:30 p.m. Thursday in a rural part of southcentral Pennsylvania when he was shot and killed by a suspected poacher. He was the first Game Commission official killed in the line of duty in 95 years.

A suspect has been arrested in the killing. Grove managed to shoot one of his assailants before he died. Due process means that convicted felon Christopher Lynn Johnson, 27, should be presumed innocent until he's convicted in a court of law, but police did find him hiding at a deer camp with a gunshot wound to the side. 

Beyond that, what can you say? The story from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reads like it's quoting chapter and verse from my novel. It's a disturbing experience to feel prescient about something like this.

I offer my deepest condolences to Officer Grove's family, friends, and colleagues.

Plum Creek Gets the Green Light

Maine's Land Use Regulation Committee, affectionately known in these parts as LURC, is recommending a controversial proposal by Plum Creek Timber to create the largest residential development in Maine history. This decision follows four years of heating public hearings, plans and counter plans, and dozens of newspaper and magazine op-eds. The Plum Creek proposal will develop a thousand house lots and create two large resorts on the shores of Moosehead Lake. The plan also protects thousands of acres in the region under conservation easements—although it keeps them as working forest. I have misgivings about the economic benefits Plum Creek is actually going to bring to the depressed area around Greenville (the thousand houses will certainly sell, but I doubt those resorts are going to prosper), but I'd be happy to be proven wrong since the development is now likely to move forward. I expect lawsuits to slow things down—and I won't be surprised if EarthFirst stirs up some mischief—but in the end Plum Creek will have its way. Watching this process unfold has been an eerie experience for me since it resembles, in many ways, the scenario I wrote about in The Poacher's Son. I hope in real life the outcome is less violent.

The Inciter

Ted Williams, who writes the Incite column for Audubon Magazine and is also a columnist for Fly Rod & Reel, may be the most hated environmental journalist in the country. In my opinion, he's also the best, and I have had the privilege of working with him on a handful of stories for Down East over the years. Ted is a sponge for breaking news about the outdoors. Nothing escapes him. If you want proof, I recommend his omnivorous blog at Fly Rod & Reel's Web site.