While these figures are staggering, in truth no one really knows how much is being stolen. Industry has stepped up enforcement in recent years, but forestry law officers admit it's probably only the tip of the iceberg. To paraphrase the old pop tune, there must be 50 ways to steal your timber! Thieves can be anyone in the 'chain of title' that transfers trees from stump to the processing mill. 

Even people outside the industry have found ways to get their fingers in the pie. One scam involved a person representing himself to the landowner as a timber buyer to get a signed contract. He then hired a logger to cut the timber and split town without paying the landowner. In another case, a woman handled the sale of timber for the heirs of an estate and then skipped town.

Perpetrators have included loggers, truck drivers, scalers, foresters, wood dealers, corporate accountants and/or comptrollers, and any number of brokers who manage property, sell real estate or purchase/sell timber rights. 

Whether we like it or not, there has always been a minuscule criminal element in our industry, as there is in any industry. However, several enforcement officers I spoke with believe this trend has been growing in the last few years, partly because of the all-time high values associated with timber. It takes a lot of work to steal timber, one officer points out. In the past, it wasn't always worth the effort for the money. Now it is. 

The financial loss is generally borne by the landowner and/or timber buyer. In some cases, losses have been as much as $5 million. Remember the Keadle Lumber case in Georgia? Initially in October 1989, the value was set at a little over $1.1 million. But the investigation, which led to 18 indictments, some of which are still being processed, unearthed more than $4 million of stolen timber. That is often the scenario. Officers begin investigating one theft and in the process discover other thefts that have occurred.

Experts agree, the most vulnerable is the private landowner, particularly the absentee owner who may not step foot on his property for several years. In fact, 140 of the 144 cases investigated in Louisiana in 1998 were thefts on private, non-industrial land. The bigger loser, though, is the entire forest products industry and more specifically, all honest, conscientious people. 

Timber theft violates the public trust and plants a seed of distrust among reasonable, fair-minded citizens. Radical presevationists need only to water it with their distorted, intentionally misleading 'facts.' We've seen the blossoming effect of that distrust in an ever-increasing demand for regulations from federal agencies and local bodies.

The good news is that more and more of these criminals are being brought to justice. Forestry commissions and other state forestry agencies have focused on this type of crime in recent years and are aggressively investigating these cases. To their credit, they have succeeded in obtaining dozens of convictions and/or settlements. 

Several Southern states have or are in the process of passing laws to strengthen investigative efforts and stiffen penalties. Texas passed a law in 1997 that makes theft of more than $500 of property a felony and sets fines up to three times the amount of the value. Alabama forestry representatives are currently writing a scale ticket law they hope to introduce to the legislature this year. The law is expected to make lying on the tickets a felony and require more information be included, such as the county the timber is from, type of product, as well as the landowner, and logger's and truck driver's names. 

Louisiana's legislature has been active as well. It has passed laws requiring prompt payment for timber removed. Previously, an unscrupulous operator could have a two- or three-year contract, cut the timber and be long gone by the time it officially became a crime when the contract expired. Other laws have made it a felony to lie about the origin of timber and require that records of pertinent information be kept. 

In the past, proving a timber theft was difficult and time-consuming because it required following a twisted and sometimes incomplete paper trail. Thefts may not be discovered until months or years after the crime. Today, video cameras and other surveillance techniques are helping to catch suspected criminals in the act. Instead of confronting a suspected employee, loggers are learning to enlist the aid of law enforcement to catch him in the act. State prosecutors, who were once reluctant to try these cases, are taking them to court and winning.