Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America's Woods

by Lyndsie Bourgon

Overview

A gripping account of the billion-dollar timber black market — and how it intersects with environmentalism, class, and culture.

In Tree Thieves, Lyndsie Bourgon takes us deep into the underbelly of the illegal timber market. As she traces three timber poaching cases, she introduces us to tree poachers, law enforcement, forensic wood specialists, the enigmatic residents of former logging communities, environmental activists, international timber cartels, and indigenous communities along the way.

Old-growth trees are invaluable and irreplaceable for both humans and wildlife, and are the oldest living things on earth. But the morality of tree poaching is not as simple as we might think: stealing trees is a form of deeply rooted protest, and a side effect of environmental preservation and protection that doesn’t include communities that have been uprooted or marginalized when park boundaries are drawn. As Bourgon discovers, failing to include working class and rural communities in the preservation of these awe-inducing ecosystems can lead to catastrophic results.

Featuring excellent investigative reporting, fascinating characters, logging history, political analysis, and cutting-edge tree science, Tree Thieves takes readers on a thrilling journey into the intrigue, crime, and incredible complexity sheltered under the forest canopy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781668615546
Publisher:	Hachette Book Group
Publication date:	06/21/2022
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 5.70(h) x (d)

About the Author

Lyndsie Bourgon is a writer, oral historian, and 2018 National Geographic Explorer based in British Columbia. She writes about the environment and its entanglement with history, culture, and identity. Her features have been published in The Atlantic, Smithsonian, the Guardian, the Oxford American, Aeon, The Walrus, and Hazlitt, among other outlets.
 

Hayden Bishop has a passion for telling stories; truthfully, honestly, and in a way that makes you feel something. She found this passion early on, performing on stage and on-camera for over ten years. You can also hear Hayden, not only on audiobooks, but also performing commercials, video-game and animation characters, along with some e-learning and narration. Her passion for life, the human condition, and telling those stories shines through all of her work.

Table of Contents

Characters xiii

Prologue: May Creek 3

Part I Roots

Chapter 1 Clearances 7

Chapter 2 The Poacher and the Gamekeeper 15

Chapter 3 Into the Heart of the Country 21

Chapter 4 A Lunar Landscape 33

Chapter 5 Region at War 45

Part II Trunk

Chapter 6 The Gateway to the Redwoods 63

Chapter 7 Tree Troubles 71

Chapter 8 Music Wood 77

Chapter 9 The Trees of Mystery 85

Chapter 10 Turning 97

Chapter 11 Bad Jobs 103

Chapter 12 Catching an Outlaw 119

Chapter 13 In the Blocks 125

Chapter 14 Puzzle Pieces 135

Chapter 15 A New Surge 147

Chapter 16 The Origin Tree 157

Part III Candpy

Chapter 17 Tracking Timber 163

Chapter 18 "It Was a Vision Quest" 169

Chapter 19 From Peru to Houston 181

Chapter 20 "We Trust In the Trees" 191

Chapter 21 Carbon Sinks 195

Chapter 22 In Limbo 203

Afterword 209

Acknowledgments 213

Glossary 217

Notes 221

Bibliography and Sources 227

Archives 261

Index 263

Editorial Reviews

04/25/2022

Historian Bourgon explores the lucrative and complex crime of timber poaching in her fascinating debut. An estimated $1 billion worth of wood is poached annually in North America alone, Bourgon writes, and while the forest was once seen as “a common source of commodities or privileges,” there’s long been a tension resulting from conservation efforts and private forest management initiatives that too often “disregard and marginalize the working-class people who not only live among the trees but rely on them to survive.” As well, historically, the creation of national and state parks displaced Indigenous and logging communities throughout the Pacific Northwest, and broader industry declines led to widespread job loss and an increase in poverty levels in logging communities. As such, Bourgon posits that timber poaching can be “an act to reclaim one’s place in a rapidly changing world” and promotes changing forest management policies so that they take into account the communities involved. Bourgon’s thoughtful approach and sharp investigative reporting will give environmentalists, policymakers, and park lovers a new perspective on the consequences of prioritizing endangered environments at the expense of the people who live in them. Nature lovers, take note. (June)

Publishers Weekly

A refreshing and compassionate warning about the perils of well-intentioned but overzealous environmentalism.”—New York Times

“Tree Thieves is just an exceptional book. It's a gripping investigation into tree poaching, a remarkably compassionate study of the culture clashes involved, a thoughtful look at environmental values. But underlying all of that is Lyndsie Bourgon's lyrical reminder of everything we love and everything we lose in a world of vanishing forests.”—Deborah Blum, Pulitzer-prize winning author of The Poisoner's Handbook

“Tree Thieves is a vividly written, fine piece of investigative reporting.”—The Los Angeles Review of Books

“An astounding, essential read in our time of environmental and social crises. Tree Thieves exposes the astonishing realities of tree poaching and the dire consequences of excluding rural and Indigenous communities from preservation efforts.”—Kirk Wallace Johnson, author of The Feather Thief and The Fishermen and the Dragon

“Supple, thoughtful prose that may remind you of Rebecca Solnit.”—San Francisco Chronicle

"Bourgon vividly captures a hidden cat and mouse game playing out in some of the world's most iconic forests."—Sarah Berman, author of Don't Call It a Cult: The Shocking Story of Keith Raniere and the Women of NXIVM

"Absorbing. Part social history, part true crime,Tree Thieves is a riveting tale of timber heists plaguing forests from the redwoods to the Amazon.”—Ash Davidson, author of Damnation Spring

"Tree Thieves is both an absorbing true-crime story and a fascinating examination of the deep and troubled relationship between people and forests. From Sherwood Forest to the California redwoods to the Peruvian Amazon, Lyndsie Bourgon illuminates the violent conflicts over power, class, and identity that continue to shape and scar the forests we depend on."—Michelle Nijhuis, author of Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction

“Tracking thieves, poachers, and capitalists, Lyndsie Bourgon masterfully takes on the role of detective shining a light on the complex and camouflaged world of the timber black market. The result is a meticulous investigation and a powerful testimony to the trees silently taken and the consequences of their fall that reverberate well beyond the forest.”—Harley Rustad, author of Lost in the Valley of Death

“Tree Thieves is a deeply researched examination of the past, present, and future of our forests, told through stories of timber poaching. Lyndsie Bourgon shows us that we must take into account all the complexities of human-nature relationships if we are to have any hope of keeping our standing giants alive.”—Gina Rae La Cerva, author of Feasting Wild

“A fascinating blend of history and boots-in-the-mud journalism, which manages to dig into ancient and thorny questions about who really owns wild land and who is allowed to live off it. To poach of course means to steal. But is wilderness preservation also a form of theft, only on a larger scale? This book does what all great books should: it leaves your mind broader, deeper, and more nuanced.”—Robert Moor, author of On Trails: An Exploration

“An enlightening and well-balanced account of the potential effects of environmental protections on local communities.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Bourgon’s thoughtful approach and sharp investigative reporting will give environmentalists, policymakers, and park lovers a new perspective on the consequences of prioritizing endangered environments at the expense of the people who live in them. Nature lovers, take note.”—Publishers Weekly

“Tree Thieves is a valuable contribution to how we think about our future interaction with these forest treasures that early Western explorers dubbed 'red gold' and our future impact on the planet.”—Frederick H. Turner, Natural Resources & Environment

From the Publisher

04/01/2022

Timber poaching could be judged simply: Stealing is wrong, and destroying protected national treasures and resources is even worse. But this book by British Columbia-based ecology writer Bourgon delves into the complexities of the illegal timber market in an evenhanded manner. Focusing primarily on forestry in the Pacific Northwest, the author explains how timber poaching—although difficult to prosecute—is an offense with significant long-term ramifications to the global economy and the well-being of all living creatures. At the same time, Bourgon's interviews with poachers (and with police, former loggers, Indigenous communities, and international timber cartels) help readers to be sympathetic to the circumstances. The book is grounded in these interviews and research, but it also dips into narrative nonfiction that puts readers in the mindset of its subjects (e.g., the anxious moment of stumbling onto a recently abandoned poaching site). It might be hard to sell readers on the unsexy crime of stealing trees, but there's much of interest in this book (high-tech efforts to catch poachers and identify stolen trees; the supply chain by which illegal timber from around the world finds its way into U.S. stores and homes). Note that the interviews include some heavy profanity. VERDICT Fascinating for motivated readers.—Elissa Cooper

Library Journal

Hayden Bishop’s down-to-earth, slightly edgy voice maintains a tone of authenticity that is in tune with this nuanced investigation of the poaching of old-growth trees for timber. Bourgon stresses the fundamental importance of healthy ancient trees to the sustainability of both forests and the planet while also recognizing the complexity of what the loss of jobs, and corresponding marginalization, has meant for generations of foresters. Bishop captures the frustration and occasional fear of law enforcement who pursue the poachers, the sense of hopelessness of unemployed loggers, and the hypocrisy of consumers who purchase products made with illegally cut wood while turning a blind eye to the source. Bishop’s energy and empathy effectively communicate Bourgon’s important environmental and human message. A.B. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2022 - AudioFile

Hayden Bishop’s down-to-earth, slightly edgy voice maintains a tone of authenticity that is in tune with this nuanced investigation of the poaching of old-growth trees for timber. Bourgon stresses the fundamental importance of healthy ancient trees to the sustainability of both forests and the planet while also recognizing the complexity of what the loss of jobs, and corresponding marginalization, has meant for generations of foresters. Bishop captures the frustration and occasional fear of law enforcement who pursue the poachers, the sense of hopelessness of unemployed loggers, and the hypocrisy of consumers who purchase products made with illegally cut wood while turning a blind eye to the source. Bishop’s energy and empathy effectively communicate Bourgon’s important environmental and human message. A.B. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2022 - AudioFile

2022-03-29
A study of the causes and effects of timber poaching in North America.

Focusing on the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia–based writer and oral historian Bourgon, a 2018 National Geographic Explorer, investigates tree poaching in North America. Much of the author’s account focuses on the small logging town of Orick, California, the southern gateway to Redwood National Park, created in 1968. “While some pinpoint 1968 as the year Orick’s economic troubles began,” writes Bourgon, “it was only the start of a slow change that unfurled over the following decades, sowing the seeds of chronic unemployment, housing decline, and anti-establishment sentiment that smoldered before erupting across the Pacific Northwest in the Timber Wars of the 1980s and 1990s.” While many assumed that the money the town lost from logging would be regained by tourism, it didn’t materialize. In 1976, the Department of Interior proposed expanding the park, a plan opposed by loggers. Many residents felt their concerns were being ignored in favor of those who wanted to protect the forests. “Though opportunities for work existed elsewhere,” writes the author, “a core group…felt so connected to the region that they refused to move after the industry declined.” As a result, timber poaching became a “cultural practice” that reinforced their “once-shared heritage.” Through extensive research, interviews, and diligent boots-on-the-ground reporting, Bourgon evenhandedly examines the many factors involved, including the effects of unemployment on timber communities, including substance abuse and increased crime rates; the ravages of timber poaching on the environment; and the challenges, fears, and dangers faced by law enforcement agencies attempting to capture and prosecute timber poachers. Bourgon also discusses timber poaching in other regions of the world, particularly the Amazon, noting the many similarities to the plight of the Pacific Northwest.

An enlightening and well-balanced account of the potential effects of environmental protections on local communities.

Kirkus Reviews