Tree Thieves Cut a Swath Through San Bernardino Forest

Tsk, tsk. A scowl would surely cross Santa’s whiskered face if he got wind of this news.

It seems that poachers--perhaps looking for adventure, perhaps looking to save a few bucks--are stealing Christmas trees from the San Bernardino National Forest this holiday season.

And, at the risk of sounding like scrooges, the folks in the familiar olive green uniforms say they are are none too pleased.

“You might look out there and think, ‘Gee, there are lots of trees. They won’t miss one or two,’ ” said Cindy Oswald, resource officer for the forest’s Cajon Ranger District. “But that’s not the case. These trees provide important habitat and cover for wildlife. They are not there for the taking.”

Although it is tough to track the losses, rangers say a few hundred white firs, pines and sequoias are plucked each year from the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains, despite signs warning that removing the trees is a federal offense.

This season, the tree rustlers are more active than ever, and Forest Service officials believe that the absence of snow--which typically makes roads to many areas of the mountain ranges impassable by December--is to blame.

“With the dry conditions and warm days, people have been out in remote parts of the national forest later this year than normal,” Oswald said. “That’s fine with us, but we wish they’d leave the trees behind.”

Many rustlers make off with their loot in the darkness of night. But others, Oswald said, boldly take saw to trunk under full glare of the sun. Even so, the forest’s law enforcement agents are spread so thin over the vast lands that catching thieves in the act is rare.

Instead, thieves are nabbed when rangers spot them leaving the woods with trees strapped atop their cars. Identifying stolen trees is easy, officials say, because those grown in the wild do not have the carefully manicured shape of the crop produced at tree farms.

So far, 19 suspected thieves--most of whom allegedly took trees from the Lytle Creek, Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake areas--have been collared by rangers. The maximum penalty for a small-time tree thief is six months in jail and a $500 fine.

Although tree-cutting is prohibited in Southland forests, many others do permit families to buy permits to chop down a tree for home use. The fee at Lassen National Forest, for example, is $5, and each household is allowed a limit of two trees.

As a management technique, officials at Lassen and other forests also allow commercial vendors to purchase the rights to cut larger numbers of trees for sale at Christmastime or for timber.

Despite that system, forests in Northern California have had their share of poaching problems through the years. Paul Steensland, special agent for the Lassen National Forest, said the worst case in recent memory involved the theft of 1,000 white firs and silver tip red firs--the two most valuable native species--in 1981.

“This guy had forged documents to make it look like he had legitimate title to these trees,” Steensland recalled. “Well, he didn’t. He got sent to prison for a few years on a felony theft conviction.”

Two years ago, a specially planted section of the forest was denuded when another thief mowed down 740 silver tip firs. That case also resulted in a conviction, Steensland said, but “the area was just devastated when he got done with it.”

In Southern California, poaching is considered a particularly alarming offense because of the relative scarcity of coniferous trees and the stressful conditions they face. Already, trees in the Angeles, San Bernardino and Cleveland national forests are plagued by disease, insects and smog.

Unlike the troubles plaguing the San Bernardino Forest, neighboring Angeles National Forest has lost few trees to thieves this year. Special Agent Rich Grandalski said more patrols and a public education campaign may deserve credit.

The 500,000-acre Cleveland National Forest, meanwhile, is 90% chaparral and thus has little to lure a thief.