We've had a couple hundred thousand board-feet of wood stolen on our (Federal) ownership in the last few months. Some of it standing, some of it on the ground. There's five pickup trucks in every small town for 50 miles around with loads of green firewood going for 75 bucks a cord. I wonder where it all came from?
It's impossible to keep up with these guys. We can't be everywhere at once. Half the time when they knock down standing timber, they botch the cut badly enough it's a wonder they don't kill themselves. Once in awhile the sawdust shows the curly fries of a decent ripping chain, which suggests that a few of the thieves know what they're doing, but the rest are just snatching easy meat from the side of roads.
It's impossible to keep up with these guys. We can't be everywhere at once. Half the time when they knock down standing timber, they botch the cut badly enough it's a wonder they don't kill themselves. Once in awhile the sawdust shows the curly fries of a decent ripping chain, which suggests that a few of the thieves know what they're doing, but the rest are just snatching easy meat from the side of roads.
