The last of four defendants prosecuted for stealing wood from Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington State, USA, has pled guilty, in a landmark case that marks the first time the U.S. government has prosecuted a Lacey Act case for illegal interstate trade of wood products within the United States. DNA evidence developed by a consortium of experts was an important element of the Government’s case against the timber thieves.
The theft of bigleaf maple in the Pacific Northwest of United States has been a persistent problem. Under Washington state law, bigleaf maple can only be legally traded with a valid permit. According to the complaint, one of the four defendants, Harold Clause Kupers, 48, of J&L Tonewoods, helped the other three learn how to identify and harvest figured bigleaf maple, and eventually sold more than $800,000 worth of illegally possessed bigleaf maple wood to guitar companies inside and outside the state.
Highly valuable maple wood linked to drugs
Distortions in maple wood grain can create patterns known as “figuring,” prized by woodworkers and used particularly in the musical instrument trade to make unique guitars. When milled, a single log of figured maple can be worth tens of thousands of dollars – making it a tempting target for thieves.
Cases of bigleaf maple theft in the region have also been linked with methamphetamine use, giving illegally procured wood the nickname “meth maple”. Anne Minden, a retired U.S. Forest Service officer with 27 years of experience in forest law enforcement, was brought in as a technical expert for this case. She estimates that at a minimum, hundreds of thousands of US dollars’ worth of bigleaf maple wood is stolen every year from both public and private lands in the State of Washington.
Fingerprints of a different kind
Timber theft and illegal trade affects a large proportion of the world’s trade in forest products. In the case of bigleaf maple, limitations on being able to definitively match seized timber back to suspected theft sites have made previous prosecutions difficult.
In 2013, the United States Forest Service (USFS) believed they had evidence of illegal logging activity in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington State. They enlisted the help of Double Helix Tracking Technologies (DoubleHelix) to build a DNA profiling reference database that would enable experts to match seized logs to the stumps of illegally harvested bigleaf maple trees in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service (USFS), DoubleHelix and the University of Adelaide, with help from World Resources Institute (WRI) teamed up to develop the first genetic reference database for bigleaf maple, which maps out genetic variations across a subset of this species’ natural range in the Pacific Northwest.
Just like individual humans, each individual maple tree has a unique genetic fingerprint, making it possible to match pieces of sawn wood with the stumps of the trees from which they were cut using a technique called DNA profiling. “With this technology, wood buyers can verify whether or not bigleaf maple has been legally harvested,” said Professor Andrew Lowe of the University of Adelaide, and Chief Scientific Officer of DoubleHelix. “Our database indicates that with these markers, the likelihood of two trees having the same DNA profile is as low as one in 428 sextillion; there are thought to be approximately 70 sextillion stars in the universe.”
From stump to guitar
Through the continued development of these types of reference databases, DNA profiling techniques have the potential to be especially useful for tracking high-value species commonly used in high-end guitars through the supply chain, such as bigleaf maple.
“The onus is on industry leaders to ensure the timber they use comes from legitimate sources. In the future, as these tools become more available, industry leaders will be able to participate in protecting national forests and these magnificent old growth trees.” said Darren Thomas, CEO of DoubleHelix.
Science vs illegal loggers
“Scientific methods such as DNA analysis can support forest law enforcement just as they have done with many other kinds of crime,” said Dr. Charles Barber, Director of the Forest Legality Initiative at WRI. “WRI is working globally to help develop the scientific methods and reference databases that can combat illegal logging and associated trade worldwide.”
“It’s going to get harder and harder, as these databases become available, for criminals to launder their illegal timber and profit from it. We’re closing down a source of illegal revenue for criminals in this country and protecting our national heritage.” said USFS international expert Shelley Gardner.
The DNA markers that were developed for this study have been peer-reviewed and were recently published in the journal Conservation Genetic Resources.
About Lacey Act
The Lacey Act is a U.S. wildlife protection law that was amended in 2008 to include plants, making it illegal to trade in illegally sourced wood products. The Act has been notably applied in the high-profile investigations of Gibson Guitar and Lumber Liquidators, companies that were accused of importing illegally sourced timber.
