WASHINGTON, D.C. – From Nov. 15-19, 2021, a team of USDA Forest Service instructors delivered a virtual training on illegal mining investigations for sub-Saharan professionals. These trainings reflect a strong and growing partnership between the Forest Service and the Department of State to address illegal mining and other natural resource-related crimes.

Forest Service Office of International Programs provided funding for the training, which included support for extensive virtual course design and delivery. The International Law Enforcement Academy in Gaborone, Botswana coordinated the training.

A wide range of professions and disciplines made up the cadre of instructors and participants, reflecting the complexity of illegal mining investigations. Forty-one men and eleven women attended the course. They are forestry rangers, minerals geologists, customs and border patrol officials, law enforcement, prosecutors and magistrates. They hail from Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Namibia, Republic of Congo and Zambia.  

Forest Service Patrol Captain Jay Norris, Senior Special Agent (retired) Mike Gardiner and Forest Service Geologist (retired) Mary Beth Marks helped to design and deliver the training.  

The classes combined traditional lectures with interactive modules and practical exercises. Instructional topics included legal frameworks; ethics, core values, anti-discrimination, and anti-harassment; the mining life cycle; mining impacts; mining safety and hazards; community policing; non-environmental crimes; the typology of mining crimes and investigation methods; evidence processing and interviewing; and successful prosecution strategies.  

The Forest Service collaborates with academies like the ILEA as part of a global effort to share expertise in responsible mining practices and effective illegal mining investigations. The Forest Service will offer the next course on Illegal Mining Investigations at ILEA Gaborone in May of 2022.