A Helen man has been fined for trespassing in the Chattahoochee National Forest.

On June 2, Jamie Calvin Adams, 60, was ordered to pay a $500 fine plus $1,386 in restitution. Officials said
Adams had fenced off 1.37 acres of land in the national forest’s Mark Trail Wilderness Area and was grazing cattle there.

Judge Susan Cole of the U.S. Magistrate Court in Gainesville ordered
Adams to remove all the fencing and posts within 30 days.

Adams was the second person this year to be charged with encroaching on the national forest. In April, Joshua T. Pritchett, 28, of Ellijay pleaded guilty to building a wall and cutting trees down within the Rich Mountain Wilderness. He paid a $100 fine and $2,700 in restitution.

Terry Stolz, lands staff officer for the U.S. Forest Service, said homeowners who live adjacent to the national forest should have their land surveyed before doing construction work to make sure they are building only on their own property.