Man sentenced to jail for role in attack on forest service facility

Aaron Ellringer will spend four days in jail for trespassing on a closed forest road near Rhinelander back in July 2000. According to a federal indictment, Ellringer, 35, of Eau Claire, drove a group of people to the U.S. Forest Service facility near Rhinelander on July 19, 2000. Ellringer’s passengers are accused of conducting a middle-of-the-night attack on the facility, damaging approximately 500 research trees and, using spray paint and etching cream, permanently defacing a number of forest service vehicles with references to ELF (Earth Liberation Front). Total damage to the facility was estimated at $500,000, according to the indictment. According to the indictment, Ellringer’s codefendants Katherine Christianson and Bryan Rivera believed the Rhinelander facility was a good target for an attack because the facility was performing genetic research on trees which the group believed was harmful to the environment....