Birch Tree Thieves!

[Lee Borgersen]

  Minnesota and Wisconsin losing thousands of birch trees to thieves.

PUBLISHED: March 30, 2017

  ....
DULUTH, Minn. — Law enforcement officials in northern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota say there’s been a recent rash of illegal cutting of small birch trees that are smuggled out and sold as decorations in stores and online.

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It’s not just a few trees, but thousands of small birch cut, bundled and carted away off public and private forests without any payment or permits.

  ..
The trees and limbs are making their way to wholesalers and then on to retailers where they are sold at stores and online as rustic northwoods decorations for homes and events, especially weddings.

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Lt. Shelly Patton, a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources conservation officer district supervisor, said she submitted a case to the St. Louis County attorney’s office Wednesday for prosecution regarding an illegal birch-cutting operation in the Aurora and Tower areas. Patton said birch were cut in recent months on several tracts of state and Superior National Forest land.

The thefts started popping up in northwestern Wisconsin last fall and continued over the winter.

  .....
“I counted about 1,800 cut in just one area. And they have been hitting a lot of different spots,” said Buck Pettingill, a Washburn County forester who said the problem grew to “epidemic” proportions over the past year. “It’s stealing, plain and simple. And it’s causing a lot of damage in the forest.”

Even bundles of birch twigs are being cut and offered for sale. It appears buyers want birch cut during fall and winter months, before sap starts running, Pettingill said.

“Birch theft has become the new trend in northwest Wisconsin,” said Mike Richter, chief deputy of the Washburn County Sheriff’s Office, on the sheriff’s Facebook page. “Thefts are occurring on county and state forests as well as on private property.”

Unlike loggers that haul large trees on big trucks, the birch thieves are hauling small saplings in pickups and trailers. Richter urged the public to call 911 if they see any of those loads of small birch moving on the road.

“Please call anytime of the day or night, as some of these folks are cutting during the day and hauling at night,” he said.

Pettingill spent a weekend looking for birch thieves, and managed to catch three suspects cramming freshly cut bundles of birch sticks into a car along a remote forest road. Charges are pending against the three Hayward-area men for timber theft.

“We’re talking a lot of timber that’s been stolen. Those 1,800 trees would be about 60 cords of birch when they got big. At $40 cord, that adds up,” Pettingill said.

Dave Zebo, Wisconsin conservation warden for the Spooner region, said county, state and Chequamegon National Forest foresters and law enforcement officers will meet next week to share information and make plans on how to combat the birch thefts.

“They seem to be targeting mostly county and national forest land. There’s been some significant biological damage,” he said.

Zebro said officials may be contacting wholesale birch buyers in the region to make sure they know they are buying limbs from legitimate sources. Wholesale buyers are posting birch-wanted ads on Craigslist, paying between $1 and $3 per pole.

It’s clear there’s a market for the product — mostly small birch saplings, about two inches in diameter, in two- to six-foot lengths.

Menards sells a 66-inch birch “pole” online for $6.99. Crate & Barrel’s website offers three birch poles each 60 inches long for $29.95 plus shipping. On Amazon you can buy four 48-inch poles for $45.99. On eBay those poles run from $20 to $40. A website called Blooms & Branches sells a half-dozen six-foot-long birch poles for $57.42 and a bundle of birch twigs for $11.97.

Those sellers may well be obtaining their birch pieces from legal harvesters. As of now it’s not known where the illegal birch is being sold or to whom, Zebo said.

Birch aren’t the only trees targeted by thieves. There have been several cases in recent years of illegal cutting of spruce tree tops from public lands in northern Minnesota to sell as Christmas decorations.

In January Joseph Edminster of Grand Rapids pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing the tops of 2,700 black spruce trees from the Chippewa National Forest. Edminster took the trees between 2008 and 2014, selling them to wholesalers for up to $2.50 each. The trees were then sold to retailers for $6 each, prosecutors said, and then sold to shoppers in urban areas for even more.



Birches cut by people to sell on eBay. (Courtesy of Washburn County Sheriff via Forum News Service)

 

[glenn57]

That's sad! Hope they catch them. Birch, although a messy tree are a pretty tree.

 There's a fellow up north that makes birch bark canoes. I've seen where he gets his bark. Pretty spendy for them.

[Lee Borgersen]

    Birch-tree bandit nabbed, 1,200 trees downed for decor, DNR says

By Forum News Service |
PUBLISHED: May 8, 2017 at 9:52 pm | UPDATED: May 9, 2017 at 3:30 pm

  ......
Aurora, Minn. – A 40-year-old Aurora man has been charged with stealing more than $3,400 worth of birch trees off state and county land near the Iron Range.

A criminal complaint has been filed in St. Louis County District Court against David Allen Lawrence for timber theft from state land.

It’s believed to be the first criminal charge in Minnesota connected to the recent rash of illegal cutting of small Northland birch trees sold into the decorative knickknack market first reported by the Duluth News Tribune in March.

“This is the first one I know of that’s gone to criminal charges,’’ said Lt. Shelly Patton, District 5 conservation officer surveyor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

At least five people have been charged in recent months in Northwestern Wisconsin’s Washburn County in connection with birch thefts.

Lawrence has been ordered to appear in court May 26 to face the charges before Judge James Florey in Virginia.

According to the criminal complaint, Minnesota Conservation Officer Mark Fredin caught Lawrence cutting birch trees with two other men near the Tower-Biwabik Road on March 17.

Lawrence, who had no permit to cut trees on public property, told Fredin that he was cutting small-diameter birch poles to sell to a Wisconsin man. At least 100 birch had been cut that day, and the complaint says Lawrence told the officer that he had already made a delivery to the Wisconsin buyer earlier that week.


Lawrence told Fredin that he had been cutting in the same area for three days. Fredin later determined that at least 1,200 birch had been cut in that area. The crime of timber theft is a gross misdemeanor in Minnesota subject to up to a year in jail and a $3,000 fine on top of reimbursement for the $3,411 market value of the timber cut.

The two other men with Lawrence were not charged because the state does not have jurisdiction over their timber cutting because they are Native American and within a treaty area. They may still be charged in tribal court, state officials said Monday.

Lawrence has a long history of criminal charges dating back to 2000, including driving while under the influence, driving after license revocation, writing worthless checks, drug possession, criminal damage to property, harassment and striking with intent to injure.

Birch thefts started popping up in Northwestern Wisconsin last fall, particularly in Washburn and Ashland counties, and continued over the winter, moving into Northeastern Minnesota. In one Washburn County forest tract, more than 1,800 birch were cut illegally.

The thefts have declined as sap started running in the birch trees again with the onset of spring and summer; apparently birch buyers don’t want sappy sticks.

While many birch harvests and sales are likely conducted in a legal manner, the issue of illegal harvest became such a problem over the winter that authorities in both states joined U.S. Forest Service officials in a coordinated meeting last month to discuss ways to combat the birch cutting and sales across state lines.

The small birch poles are sold to wholesalers who then move them along to buyers for both online and retail store sales. Birch poles have become popular indoor decorations for homes and events, selling for up to $10 each. A website called Blooms & Branches, for example, sells a half-dozen 6-foot-long birch poles for $57.42 and a bundle of birch twigs for $11.97.

Buyers were paying cutters between $1 and $3 per pole over the winter.

One Washburn County law enforcement official said much of the birch theft appears driven by drug users who want quick cash to buy drugs.



                      A Pinterest photo shows how birch branches are used in decor.

 

[Rebel SS]

I better chain mine down in the front yard...

[glenn57]

seriously????? thats all they value the birch tree at? its a hell of a lot more expensive cut up as firewood!!!!!!

[Rebel SS]

seriously????? thats all they value the birch tree at? its a hell of a lot more expensive cut up as firewood!!!!!!

No, no, my little blue buddy, birch is terrible for firewood. Maybe a FAST campfire....don't you smurfs know the firewood poem? 


The Firewood Poem

Beechwood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year,
Chestnut's only good they say,
If for logs 'tis laid away.
Make a fire of Elder tree,
Death within your house will be;
But ash new or ash old,
Is fit for a queen with crown of gold

Birch and fir logs burn too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last,
it is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
E'en the very flames are cold
But ash green or ash brown
Is fit for a queen with golden crown

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke,
Apple wood will scent your room
Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom
Oaken logs, if dry and old
keep away the winter's cold
But ash wet or ash dry
a king shall warm his slippers by.

[glenn57]

Pfftt........... i agree with the poplar..........its a great campfire wood. udder den dat your  tut_tut-3315.gif tut_tut-3315.gif!!! folks burnt alot of birch in there fireplace, and i disagree with burning to fast. spending most my life up north around them natives that burn a bunch of wood for heat.....one of the most sot after wood next to oak is birch.

we can agree to disagree but been there seen it!

[Rebel SS]

See this?     Heeeeeeee...

[Lee Borgersen]

Some time back I tore out da bushes in da front a da house. I wanted to make it a rustic scene wit colored stones, park bench, brick boarder, med/large rocks and drift wood. Always wished I could add some nice birch logs. We don't have access to no birch around my area. Last year on vacation with the big storm/downburst/destruction plenty a birch was on da ground. I gathered what I could and took it home. I put it in my rustic garden. Now says I!  "It has some great color."

Recently I've noticed it's starting ta look like shredded wheat. Frickin wood chucks have been slowly gnawing my beautiful birch wood to pieces. They don't even bother the other decorative logs.

Note: The wood I gathered was from private property. Not da BWCA!

[Rebel SS]

And the birch ROTS fast!  I have a PILE of it from the huge half of my tree I took from out front, (leaning way too much) and sawed and stacked two years ago....it's half rotted. Doesn't seem to dry and age like other woods. I use it in my firepit...

[Lee Borgersen]

I agree wit da fast rotting. Mine is stationed under the shelter of the house eve. So it stays mostly dry and that helps some. Pest control trapped a wood chuck after it burrowed under my neighbors patio. We never had dem before until dis past yr. I bought some cayenne pepper to sprinkle on da wood. That should help I hope unless dose are Mexican woodchucks.

[glenn57]

And the birch ROTS fast!  I have a PILE of it from the huge half of my tree I took from out front, (leaning way too much) and sawed and stacked two years ago....it's half rotted. Doesn't seem to dry and age like other woods. I use it in my firepit...

split ti ..........doah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its amazing how much that bark holds moisture!!!!!! i have split birch in the wood piles 4-5 years old thats no where near rotted!!!!!!!!

you city slickers!!!!!!!!!!

[Lee Borgersen]

And the birch ROTS fast!  I have a PILE of it from the huge half of my tree I took from out front, (leaning way too much) and sawed and stacked two years ago....it's half rotted. Doesn't seem to dry and age like other woods. I use it in my firepit...

split ti ..........doah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its amazing how much that bark holds moisture!!!!!! i have split birch in the wood piles 4-5 years old thats no where near rotted!!!!!!!!

you city slickers!!!!!!!!!!

:doah : " its amazing how much that bark holds moisture!!!!!! "

  Is dat why birch bark canoes always sink so fast?

just sayin

 

[glenn57]

  yea datz why a guy gets 2 grand for his birch bark canoes and has a waiting list longer then you fishin fibs!!!!!!!

[Rebel SS]

AH SHADDUP, ya dingleberries! Look at THIS split!!    mooning-448.gif  

[Lee Borgersen]

yea datz why a guy gets 2 grand for his birch bark canoes and has a waiting list longer then you fishin fibs!!!!!!!

I'm no longer considered a "fib" I have now since graduated to being what is known as a "fibwob". Do you know the meaning of a "fib"

[Rebel SS]

Ya....often used in place of the name "Glenn"...it means friggin' idjit boy!!!!!       

[Dotch]

I have lots of boxelder and piss elm for sale if anyone is interested. Good stuff Maynard.