SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- California's ancient Redwood trees face a growing problem of tree poaching, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Tree poachers steal downed Redwoods, which they cut into pieces to be sold on the black market. Poaching not only scars the forest, but also deprives it of essential ecological resources, the newspaper said.
Downed Redwoods contain nutrients, which allow a wide array of wildlife to survive.
Poaching is a problem in all national parks, and the Redwoods are a national treasure, the Chronicle said. The Redwood National State Park in California was established in 1968 to protect the nation's old-growth Redwoods.
Poachers are becoming more sophisticated, establishing complicated systems to move the wood. Also, to evade detection, poachers often go into the forests late at night at seemingly random time intervals.
"There are no resources out there, besides air, that someone isn't taking," said Todd Swain, a National Park Service special agent who has investigated such crimes since 1991. "There's a huge segment of the population who are commercially removing park resources, and it does a huge amount of damage."
Redwood theft has been a mounting problem over the past 10 years, the Chronicle said.
