Special Agents are criminal investigators who plan and conduct investigations concerning possible violations of criminal and administrative provisions of the Forest Service and other statues under the United States Code.  Special agents are normally plain clothes officers who carry concealed firearms, and other defensive equipment, make arrests, carry out complex criminal investigations, present cases for prosecution to U.S. Attorneys, and prepare investigative reports.  

National Forest lands are divided  administratively into  regions, each region has a Special Agent in Charge that oversees the law enforcement program.  All other positions in the law enforcement organization through upward reporting report to the Special Agent in Charge or SAC.   The typical organization  below the SAC is one position to supervise the investigative division and one patrol commander to supervise the enforcement organization.  Depending upon the the number of employees in each region, each regional organization is supported by administrative personnel possibly including a budget analyst, administrative assistant, and investigative assistant. The administrative assistant handles personnel issues, budget, travel, filing, and data input of incident reports.  Each region is divided into zones and special agents are stationed in each zone according to work load . All field agents are required to travel a great deal and usually maintain a case load of ten to fifteen ongoing criminal investigations at one time.

Some examples of of criminal cases are:

• Illegal outfitter  and guiding

• Theft of government property

• Timber theft

• Investigations of wildland fire origins

• Manufacture & distribution of controlled substances

• Assault of federal employees or volunteers

Criminal investigators occasionally conduct internal and civil claim investigations.

US Forest Service
Law Enforcement & Investigations
Washington D.C.