David Lesh, National Forest Service Violations, Colorado 2020

Grand Junction, Colorado – David Lesh, owner of an outdoor apparel company, has been found guilty of violating National Forest Service regulations for snowmobiling at Keystone Resort in April 2020.

In a written decision issued on October 22, 2021, United States Magistrate Judge Gordon P. Gallagher found that Lesh rode a snowmobile at Keystone Resort, which was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and then posted pictures of his activities on Instagram as part of an advertising and marketing campaign.

The Court found that posting the photos on Instagram constituted selling or offering for sale merchandise or conducting unauthorized work activity on National Forest Service lands, violating 36 C.F.R. Sections 261.14 and 261.10(c), both of which are misdemeanors.

At the time Lesh entered the resort, Keystone employees had used plows to create snow barriers in front of terrain park features to make them inaccessible, and signs were posted around Keystone indicating that the ski areas and terrain park were closed.

Snowmobile tracks were found looping around a ski jump, and there was evidence that a utility shed had been entered and a snow shovel removed. Snowmobile tracks also indicated that snowmobiling had occurred around the resort, in the terrain park, through the Erickson Bowl, and down a trail on National Forest Service lands.

Lesh will be sentenced by the Court at a date yet to be determined.

The matter was investigated by the National Forest Service, and Assistant United States Attorney Peter Hautzinger is in charge of the prosecution.

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