California State Parks rangers are asking for the public’s help to identify burl thieves who recently struck in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, the latest in a rash of incidents involving old growth redwood trees. The most recent damage left a 4-foot by 3 foot by 2 foot gorge in the base of a tree. “The […]
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Redwood Burl Poacher Sentenced to Community Service, Probation, Banned from Park
An Orick man is now banned from stepping foot into Redwood National and State Parks as part of his sentencing today after pleading guilty last month to poaching burl from old growth redwoods at the protected site. He also received two years probation, a $1,200 fine and 400 hours of community service. Derek Alwin Hughes’ […]
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Crimes Against Nature: Poaching Takes its Toll on the North Coast
They come at night, under the cover of darkness, traversing the back roads of Redwood National and State Parks, home to much of what remains of the world’s last old growth redwood stands. Carrying chainsaws and wearing headlamps, the thieves often take side trails to scour the towering trunks for knobbed growths that encase intricately […]
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Park Service: Burl Poacher Pinched
An Orick man was arrested recently on suspicion of hacking burl out of redwood trees on public land a year ago and selling them to a nearby burl souvenir shop. Danny E. Garcia is facing charges of grand theft, vandalism and receiving stolen property stemming from the discovery of a badly damaged tree in Redwood […]
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Big Bad Burl Biz
The New York Times has a piece this week on the despicable business of illegally sawing big hunky burl chunks off of our massive redwood trees — our elders, as the Times elegantly notes — and selling them for profit on an apparently quite healthy global market. Says the story: “The poachers, known locally as the ‘midnight […]
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Prairie Creek Scenic Byway Will Close Nights to Prevent Burl Piracy
File under: This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things. Newton B. Drury Parkway, that languorous, serpentine, redwood-lined scenic bypass through Prairie Creek State Park, will now be closed dusk ’til dawn because of burl-raiding nincompoops. California State Parks announced the closure — effective Saturday at sundown — as a measure to keep people from […]