tree poaching / instruments

[Ranald]

This morning, I heard an interesting program about tree poaching, with some mention of wood for instruments. For this part only, click on to the arrow for the radio program, "The Current," then move the cursor to 20:00. I suspect that Lyndsie Bourgon, the woman interviewed, says more on this topic in her book, Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America's Woods, though clearly wood from overseas is not her main topic. (At the end, when Lyndsie speaks in another language, she's saying "thank you" in Ojibway.)

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/...thor-1.6496251

[MikeEdgerton]

There have been several articles over the years about this in the US as well. They actually caught some guys in Washington cutting up the logs supporting a bridge to sell the cedar.

https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/n...yaorjT0F9nUmvo

It's been a problem for years.

https://www.nwnewsnetwork.org/crime-...u0_Z2_m2WYEKNk

[EdHanrahan]

25-30 years ago, a buddy of mine (a big name in the whitewater boating community) had a fully-grown walnut tree stolen from his farm property outside of Philly. A day or two later, his neighbor commented on the yellow-vested "utilities" guys working along the road and ... the walnut was gone.

[Simon DS]

Someone told me of an instance of this here in France.
The logs had been secretly tagged and they were tracked by gps all the way on trains, ships etc. to somewhere like Singapore and then on a bit more…
It was ok though because I think that plan was for the wood to be returned to France …as something else.

[CarlM]

In Iowa all logging contractors and timber buyers are required to be licensed and bonded by the state. They are required to carry a particular form with each load of timber hauled on the roads that is signed by the landowner certifying that they have ownership of the timber and have authorized the logger to remove them. The paperwork requirement is new this year because of problems with timber theft. This requirement and others have been in place a number of years in Illinois.

[Doug Brock]

There is an interesting interview with Bruce Harvie - “Orcas Island Tonewoods” on the “Rosin the Bow” podcast with Joe McHugh. Some of the interview discusses the problem of theft of tone woods, sometimes from city parks! Sadly, the theft is common and difficult to prevent.

[MikeEdgerton]

Bruce has many links on his Orcas Island Tonewoods Facebook page to these stories.