A new book dives deep into the fascinating criminal world of tree theft and efforts to combat it.
NOTE: This is Part Two of a two-part Planet Money newsletter series on the struggles of a former logging town named Orick, California. Part One,"The tale of a distressed American town on the doorstep of a natural paradise," can beOn the morning of March 27, 2018, rangers from Redwood National and State Parks put on their bulletproof vests and jumped into their cars.
When most people think of park rangers, they probably think friendly nature guides in fun hats. But at Redwood National and State Parks, the park rangers' mission of protecting old-growth redwood trees has led them to become a kind of anti-poaching police squad. Some of their investigations have been so action-packed they could be episodes of a TV show.
They say that money doesn't grow on trees, but tell that to the region's burl poachers."It's quick money," says Stephen Troy, the chief ranger of Redwood National and State Parks. Through their investigations, Troy says, they've discovered that poachers can quickly offload their burl heists to local buyers."We have found illegal burlwood in storefronts in Orick and as far as Eureka, to the south, as well as Crescent City, to the north," Troy says.
Articles about poaching at Redwood National and State Parks began proliferating around 15 years ago. Back then, however, the problem was theft of dead redwood logs, not live trees.
In the early 2010s, Redwood National and State Parks declared burl poaching a"crisis," and they began ramping up law enforcement efforts. A huge part of their mission, after all, is to protect this one-of-a-kind ancient redwood forest. However, as Bourgon documents, it also has exacerbated tensions between the parks and Orick.
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