Arson at the Vail Ski Resort, 1998
In 1998, radical environmentalists targeted a ski resort in Colorado, leading to the most infamous eco-terrorist attack of all time.
In the early hours of the morning on October 19, 1998, agents of the notorious eco-terrorist cell known as “the Family” ignited seven separate fires across the Vail Ski Resort in Colorado. They had traveled to Colorado from their homes in Oregon to orchestrate an attack that would send a message. By the time the fires were extinguished, eight structures had been either damaged or completely destroyed. Four ski lift towers, the ski patrol headquarters, radio towers, and the Two Elk Lodge restaurant had all been affected by the attack. No people or animals had been injured, but damages were extensive at an estimated $24 million.
Later that same day, individuals from the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) called into radio stations and sent a communique to several newspapers to claim responsibility for the fires in Vail. Their motives were clear: to protect lynx habitats by preventing expansion. A coalition of environmental groups had recently lost a legal battle to halt Vail’s plans to develop 885 acres of virgin national forest, an area the environmentalists claimed to be a prime habitat for the Canadian lynx. In retaliation, radical members turned to arson, stating in their communique that “Putting profit ahead of Colorado’s wildlife will not be tolerated.” They warned skiers to find somewhere else to go.
In the days following the attack, local and national newspapers began to categorize the fires as the worst eco-terrorist attack in history. News stories connected the events to Edward Abbey’s fictional work The Monkey Wrench Gang, indicating the level of influence literature had on the public imagination, even being referenced in testimonies in following years by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The FBI and other federal agencies categorized the Vail arson as particularly destructive compared to other eco terrorist attacks. The FBI soon identified eco-terrorist and special interest extremist groups as the number one domestic terrorist threat, and highlighted the perpetrators of the Vail attack as one of the most prolific domestic terrorism cells of all time.
The federal government launched an inter-agency investigation, known as Operation Backfire, to take down the group responsible for the Vail arson and other eco-terrorist attacks. Their investigation targeted the group known as “the Family” which was a particularly radical faction branching off of the Earth Liberation Front. Between 1995 and 2001, the FBI credits the group with over forty criminal acts, with the Vail arson seen as their most notorious attack. Damages related to these crimes are estimated at $40 million. The investigation gave insight to the highly secretive inner workings of eco-terrorist groups. Operation Backfire led to the capture, indictments, and convictions of six out of the seven individuals involved in the attack on the Vail Ski Resort. Josephine Sunshine Overaker, the only uncaptured perpetrator, remains on the FBI’s Most Wanted list for crimes of domestic terrorism. Twenty-five years later, the federal government continues to seek justice.
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