Last year in Alabama, timber thieves stole more than a half million dollars worth of trees. (Photo by Randolph Femmer, courtesy of the National Biological Information Infrastructure)
The construction slump has meant
less demand for two-by-fours, but
trees are still worth big bucks.
An individual tree can be worth
anywhere from a hundred dollars
to thousands. And Tanya Ott reports timber theft is up
because of the economy:
Transcript
The construction slump has meant
less demand for two-by-fours, but
trees are still worth big bucks.
An individual tree can be worth
anywhere from a hundred dollars
to thousands. And Tanya Ott reports timber theft is up
because of the economy:
(sound of timber truck)
Timber is an important revenue stream for some areas. But from New York to
Washington State, forest managers say timber thieves have been pretty
active. Last year in Alabama, they stole more than a half million dollars
worth of trees.
State forester Linda Casey says landowners might have
earmarked that money to pay off the mortgage or send their kids to college.
“If they have timber stolen they just lost the only chance that
they have to achieve whatever goal that they had designated to use this
money for.”
Foresters say reckless timber thieves also damage wildlife habitats.
States
are cracking down. This month, Alabama will decide on tough new rules that
would make it a misdemeanor to even step on private forest land without
permission.
For The Environment Report, I’m Tanya Ott.
