Chainsaw Crimes

Timber Thieves Strike at Heart of Lands Held Dear

From the NYT

Across the country, trees are disappearing in cases that are often small in scale but largely unsettling, probably prompted by the rise in timber value and the increase in worldwide demand for American hardwood particularly from builders in Europe and China. The total value of the American log export market has more than doubled since 2000, industry experts said, and it continues to grow. In the United States, forests are not being illegally logged on a systemic scale, as is the case in countries like Indonesia, Malawi and Brazil, where unauthorized harvesting has led to serious deforestation and attendant environmental problems. Here, the issue is often scattered and intimate, and often affects homeowners, parks and public forests.”It’s a different scale and victim,” said Paul Harwood, who owns a forest management and wildlife consulting business in central Vermont, contrasting the domestic problem to the larger international issue. “But it’s still a loss that goes well beyond the value of the trees.”

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