Washougal landowner Derek Hoyte was booked into the Skamania County Jail on Thursday to serve a previously suspended 30-day jail sentence for violating the terms of a temporary injunction that prohibits him from offering zip-line rides to the public on his property in the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area.

Hoyte is eligible for early release if the zip lines are taken down within the 30 days, said Skamania County Prosecutor Peter Banks. But if the zip lines go back up, Skamania County will move to put Hoyte in jail once again, he added.

In May Hoyte was given the 30-day jail sentence and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine by the Skamania County Superior Court for previously violating the temporary injunction. Though the jail sentence was suspended as long as Hoyte obeyed the order going forward, he was required to pay the fine.

During a Thursday hearing about subsequent violations of the temporary injunction, Banks said he presented photographs showing members of the public using zip lines on Hoyte’s property in July and August.

The temporary injunction was put in place to prevent Hoyte from moving forward with the zip-line tours before a trial can be held to determine whether Hoyte has the right to operate the attraction. Skamania County argues that the zip lines violate a U.S. Forest Service conservation easement on the land. The easement, which had been negotiated with a previous landowner, restricts the use of the land to agriculture.

Hoyte denies that he opened the zip lines to the public. Instead, he says he rented the 83-acre property in late June to a new tenant who might have offered aerial-rope-line tours through the trees on the property.

Hoyte’s attorney, Jim Sellers of Vancouver, says that the zip lines are currently down and that Hoyte hasn’t advertised recreation on the property since he rented out the property. “There are no zip lines in operation on the property,” Sellers said. “The zip lines are unquestionably and completely inoperable.”

If zip-line tours had been given since Hoyte rented the property to the new tenants, Hoyte shouldn’t be held responsible for their actions, Sellers argues.

Banks said he doesn’t believe that Hoyte didn’t know about the zip-line tours. He said earlier this month that several photographs taken on Aug. 3 show Hoyte’s son leading zip-line tours.

Banks is in the process of securing a trial date to order Hoyte to remove the zip-line landings permanently and clean up his Columbia River Gorge property, which is about six miles east of Washougal.

Hoyte has built roads and trails on his property without the necessary permits, and he must restore the property to its previous condition, Banks said. He expects a trial date to be set by mid-September for late 2009 or early 2010.