Rising
hardwood timber prices are luring thieves to hit the woods and start
cutting. Police who once did little to track down illegal timber cutters
now take the crime more seriously because more money is involved.
The Associated Press reports:
In recent years, there's been a steady
movement to curb illegal logging. Some states, such as Mississippi and
Virginia, have established specific timber theft laws, making illegal
logging on private property a felony punishable by jail time.
Other
states, including New York, have started timber theft prevention
campaigns that warn property owners of the common claims thieves make
when caught red-handed.
In
Kentucky, the problem has resulted in the formation of the Appalachian
Roundtable, a nonprofit that joins forestry experts, attorneys, law
enforcement and victims to alert landowners to logging scams and pursue
criminal charges against timber thieves. The group is drafting
legislation to be introduced in the 2008 Kentucky General Assembly to
make timber theft a felony punishable by a prison sentence.
"Historically,
it's been viewed by local police and the judiciary as a civil
complaint," said Keith Cain, president of the Kentucky Sheriffs
Association. "But the theft of timber is a criminal issue and should be
prosecuted as such."
With
the overseas demand for North American hardwoods growing, it's become a
more costly issue for private landowners, whose tree farms and
woodlands make up 55 percent of U.S. timber production, forestry
officials say. The rest comes from lands owned by the state and federal
governments, the logging industry and other investors.
