This has been a problem down here in the South. This is the first I have heard about Northern states having an issue with it as well. Devastating. Sad.
Timber Thieves Strike at the Heart of Lands Held Dear
ROYALTON, Vt. — The trees around George and Agnes Spaulding’s 170-year-old farmhouse here are as good as money in the bank, many being old-growth maples that are valuable not only for the quality of their wood but also for the sweet sap that the couple boils into syrup each spring.
Having been born on the farm, Mr. Spaulding, 78, loves the trees the way only someone who grew up with them could. But beyond that, he counts on the syrup sales to supplement the family income, which comes mainly from the twice-a-day milking of three dozen cows.
So when a neighboring farmer crossed onto the Spauldings’ land and chopped down 30 or so of their best trees, the couple was devastated.
“There were a lot of nights spent worrying, and when I’d get up, I’d just see bare stumps,” said Mr. Spaulding, who was awarded about $30,000 for the tree loss in a civil lawsuit against his neighbor last month. “The wood was sold for lumber. And he didn’t leave much very good.”
Across the country, trees are disappearing in cases that are often small in scale but largely unsettling, probably prompted by the rise in timber value and the increase in worldwide demand for American hardwood — particularly from builders in Europe and China. The total value of the American log export market has more than doubled since 2000, industry experts said, and it continues to grow.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/us/20timber.html