Christmas Crime : Forest Service Sets Out to Trim Tree Thieves

U.S. Forest Service Ranger William Shaw grinned as he slung a five-foot section of a Coulter pine tree onto his shoulder and heaved it into the back of his truck.

He wasn’t happy that the top third of the 15-foot pine had been hacked off by someone who wanted a free Christmas tree. Shaw was grinning because at least this time he had a suspect. And he knew where to find him.

People chop down trees in federal forests every Christmas season, and often they get away with it. But on this recent afternoon Shaw was certain he would find the vandal and make him pay, literally, for his crime.

The driver of a Caltrans truck traveling down Angeles Crest Highway above La Canada saw the tree being cut, noted the license number of the cutter’s vehicle and called Shaw.

It was Shaw’s first tree-stealing case of the season.

About 30 people a year are caught cutting trees in the Angeles National Forest, which covers 694,000 acres from Mt. Baldy westward through Saugus to the Los Padres National Forest boundary near Pyramid Lake.

The problem is bigger than the numbers, Shaw said, “because the numbers just represent those that we manage to catch. More get away.”

Said Steve Bear, resource officer at the Tujunga Ranger District office in Little Tujunga Canyon above Pacoima, “Our trees are for wildlife habitats, recreation and erosion control, which makes them much more valuable than for the temporary use as Christmas trees. Not to mention it takes a long time to grow a tree,”

In Bear’s district there are sections of the forest called tree plantations, where the Forest Service has planted a variety of indigenous trees, including Douglas fir and lodgepole, white and sugar pines. More than 100 such plantations cover several thousand acres of forest, and they, too, are violated by ax-wielding Christmas tree hunters.

Most people, when caught, tell rangers that they thought the trees would be free.

It’s an expensive mistake.

The fine for just cutting a tree in the forest is $100. Then an additional fine is assessed, amounting to three times the value of the tree--the whole tree, not just the part that was cut off.

In the case at hand, said Shaw, “this tree has a value of $100, so the fine will be $300 and then add the $100 for the initial cut and you’ve got an expensive tree.”

Shaw was later able to contact the people who were in the car spotted by the Caltrans worker. One of them admitted cutting the Coulter pine.

One more warning to potential tree thieves: When you’re caught, you’re not allowed to keep the tree. It’s confiscated, and usually be donated to a convalescent hospital or senior citizens home.