As many as one in 10 trees removed from national forests in the U.S. is cut down illegally, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The problem plagues the entire nation, from the Adirondacks to the Olympics, and is not restricted to public forests: Tree theft is also common on land owned by lumber companies and other private owners. Most often, the thieves are unemployed former timber workers who resent the environmental measures that restrict logging practices. Because the USFS tree theft unit was disbanded in 1995, it is difficult to catch the perpetrators on public lands — and even more difficult to convince them that their actions were wrong. Daniel Hughes, one of the few thieves to be caught and convicted, said, “To me it’s like, ‘This land is your land and this land is my land.’ I’m taking my share.”
