{"id":526,"date":"2014-03-28T19:47:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-28T19:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.foreverredwood.com\/raulblog\/?p=526"},"modified":"2014-03-31T13:57:49","modified_gmt":"2014-03-31T13:57:49","slug":"redwood-parks-close-road-to-deter-burl-poachers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.foreverredwood.com\/blog\/redwood-parks-close-road-to-deter-burl-poachers\/","title":{"rendered":"Redwood parks close road to deter burl poachers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Associated Press | 6:25 pm, Wednesday, March 5, 2014<\/h2>\n

\"Arbolito\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Wildlife biologist Terry Hines stands next to an old-growth redwood with a huge burl cut off. Photo: Laura Denny, Associated Press <\/em><\/p>\n

Authorities say unemployment and drug addiction have spurred an increase in the destructive practice of cutting off the knobby growths at the base of ancient redwood trees to make decorative pieces like lacey-grained coffee tables and wall clocks.<\/p>\n

The practice – known as burl poaching – has become so prevalent along the Northern California coast that Redwood National and State Parks on Saturday started closing the popular Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway at night to deter thieves.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement Ranger Laura Denny<\/a> said Tuesday that poachers have been stalking the remote reaches of the park with their chain saws and ATVs for decades, but lately the size and frequency of thefts have been on the rise.<\/p>\n

“When I interview suspects, that is the (reason) they say: their addiction to drugs and they can’t find jobs,” she said.<\/p>\n

Her husband, park district interpretation supervisor Jeff Denny<\/a>, said it is comparable to poor people poaching rare rhinos in Africa to sell their horns. Jobs are hard to come by since the timber and commercial fishing industries went into decline.<\/p>\n

Forest 95% gone<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Originally there were 2 million acres of old growth forest that spanned the coast of Northern California from Oregon to Monterey,” he said. “Over the past 150 years, 95 percent of that original forest has been cut. The only remaining old growth forest in existence now is almost entirely within the Redwood National Park” and some state parks.<\/p>\n

A redwood tree can survive the practice, but the legacy of the organism that could be 1,000 years old is threatened, because the burl is where it sprouts a clone before dying. Sprouting from burls is the prevalent method of redwood propagation, and the source of the Latin name for coast redwood, Sequoia sempervirens, or “forever living,” he added.<\/p>\n

Lorin Sandberg<\/a> is a burl dealer in Scio, Ore. He occasionally goes to Northern California to buy burl, but it is tough to find, with almost all of the old growth that makes the best burls protected on public land. The good stuff with a lacey grain full of eyes will go for $2 to $3 a pound, unseasoned.<\/p>\n

Finished dining room tables are being offered for $13,000 on eBay.<\/p>\n

“I don’t buy them unless they have proof of where they got it,” he said. “If there’s not a paper trail, it can stay in their yard.”<\/p>\n

Arrests rare<\/strong><\/p>\n

With few law enforcement rangers and 133,000 acres of park stretching south from the headquarters in Crescent City (Del Norte County) to patrol, arrests are rare, Laura Denny said. She can recall two or three over the past 12 years. While charges can be felonies carrying prison time, convictions usually end up as misdemeanors carrying fines.<\/p>\n

She is currently chasing a bunch that cut a massive burl from a redwood just south of the mouth of the Klamath River that was discovered by a bear researcher tramping the woods in April. The cut left a scar measuring 8 feet by 10 feet.<\/p>\n

Over the course of weeks, the thieves cut the burl into slabs weighing more than 100 pounds each that they dragged behind ATVs several hundred yards to a road.<\/p>\n

She found the slabs in a burl dealer’s yard. After matching the wood to pieces at the scarred tree, she seized the slabs. The dealer had paid $1,600 for eight slabs that he was going to sell for $700 apiece.<\/p>\n

“http:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/science\/article\/Redwood-parks-close-road-to-deter-burl-poachers-5292093.php<\/a>“<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Associated Press | 6:25 pm, Wednesday, March 5, 2014 Wildlife biologist Terry Hines stands next to an old-growth redwood with a huge burl cut off. Photo: Laura Denny, Associated Press Authorities say unemployment and drug addiction have spurred an increase in the destructive practice of cutting off the knobby growths at the base of ancient … Redwood parks close road to deter burl poachers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nRedwood parks close road to deter burl poachers - Forever Redwood<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foreverredwood.com\/blog\/redwood-parks-close-road-to-deter-burl-poachers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Redwood parks close road to deter burl poachers - Forever Redwood\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Associated Press | 6:25 pm, Wednesday, March 5, 2014 Wildlife biologist Terry Hines stands next to an old-growth redwood with a huge burl cut off. 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