Tree Rustlers Catch Wrath of Forest Rangers

For forest rangers at Mt. Pinos, north of Ojai, poachers who steal fir trees from the wooded federal lands are about as welcome as coal in a Christmas stocking.

But every holiday season thieves put a damper on the rangers’ Christmas by taking young white firs from the forest for use as Christmas trees.

The tree rustlers might be trying to save money. Or they might think that the trees won’t be missed. Whatever the reason, forest rangers are seeing red.

“What they are taking is not so much a commodity but something that is high in value in the recreational sense,” said Forest Service Officer John Kelly at the Mt. Pinos ranger station.

One Forest Service officer said thieves steal 20 to 30 fir and pine trees every year.

But with only six federal employees to keep watch over the 500,000-acre Mt. Pinos reserve in the Los Padres National Forest, at the northern end of Ventura County, it is difficult to catch the culprits.

“They go to the side of the roads and you can tell where they cut the trees,” Kelly said. “But from a law enforcement standpoint, it is really hit-and-miss.”

Don Trammell, a recreation and operations officer at Mt. Pinos, said Forest Service officers catch about two tree rustlers a year. The penalty for taking one tree is usually a $50 fine, but it can be as much as $5,000 and can include one year in custody, depending on the circumstances, he said.

Two years ago, Forest Service officials caught a thief who was trying to make off with 15 to 20 white firs in the back of a van, Trammell said. He said the suspect faced a fine and incarceration and was brought before a federal magistrate, but left the country soon after the arraignment hearing.

The tree-stealing incidents are not confined to Mt. Pinos.

Forest Service officials have reported a problem with tree poachers at Angeles and San Bernardino national forests. Forests in Northern California have also had their share of tree thieves through the years.

In Southern California, tree smuggling is considered a particularly serious offense because of the relative scarcity of evergreen trees and the stressful conditions--such as diseases, insects and smog--they face.

Most of the 2 million acres that make up Los Padres National Forest are within Ventura County. The white fir and the Jeffrey and pinon pine trees, however, are most abundant in the high altitudes of Mt. Pinos, Forest Service officers said.

Because of their fullness and shape, Kelly said the white firs are the most desirable trees around Christmas.

“White fir is a really highly sought-after Christmas tree,” Joe Krueger, a Mt. Pinos forester, said. The federal reserve on the Kern County border is populated mostly with pine trees, he said.

White firs make up a smaller portion of the forest, Kelly said.

There are several residential neighborhoods and a lake resort scattered throughout the wooded federal lands, Kelly said.

Mt. Pinos firefighter Jamie Moore said thieves have been known to climb tall firs and saw the top halves of the trees. Usually, these trees die because they’re vulnerable to a species of wood-munching beetle, she said.

In an effort to cut down on thefts, Forest Service officials five years ago began to set aside wooded areas where families from nearby communities can cut pine trees for a $2 permit.

The sites designated for the Christmas tree harvests are usually in areas where densely populated pine trees must be thinned to improve the future health and vigor of the forest, Kelly said.

The forest, however, can only spare 300 to 400 pine trees each year, he said.

“We try not to publicize it too much because we don’t want the demand to far outstrip the supply,” Kelly said.

Last year, Forest Service officials began a program of allowing families to return Christmas trees after the holidays so they can be used as habitat for forest wildlife. The trees are put in areas where shelter for squirrels, birds, chipmunks and mice is needed.

Despite the annual harvest, people continue to steal fir trees from other areas of the forest, Kelly said.

“They are taking something away from the forest that is really aesthetically pleasing,” he said.