WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (ENR), issued the following statement in response to the E&E News story regarding Tracy Stone-Manning’s involvement with a 1989 tree spiking case in Idaho. E&E interviewed a federal investigator who was on the case. He confirmed she was a target of the investigation and that she did not cooperate with investigators until she was caught. E&E writes, “This initial lack of cooperation with law enforcement set the investigation back by several years, he said.” Stone-Manning is President Biden’s nominee to serve as the director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). 

“This investigator has confirmed what I have been saying,” said Barrasso. “Tracy Stone-Manning collaborated with eco-terrorists who had booby trapped trees with metal spikes. She mailed the threatening letter for them and she was part of the cover up. She did not cooperate with investigators until she was caught. 

“Tracy Stone-Manning lied to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee by claiming the tree spiking was ‘alleged’ and that she was never investigated. Now, we have confirmation that neither of those things are true. President Biden must withdraw her nomination.”

Background Information: 

On her committee questionnaire, Stone-Manning said she was never the subject of a criminal investigation and that the case was an “alleged” tree spiking. In court testimony obtained by the committee, Stone-Manning admitted she edited, retyped, and sent a threatening letter to the US Forest Service on behalf of the eco-terrorists. Years later, she received immunity in order to testify against the individuals who had spiked the trees. The court documents also confirm that hundreds of trees were spiked. Some of these trees remain a danger to loggers, Forest Service employees, and fire fighters. 

The BLM manages almost 65 million acres of forests.

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