By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: June 8, 2012
No evidence, no witness, and well, no culprits.
Zilch is what has come out of local forestry office investigations in the recent and not-so-recent investigations into illegal tree cutting.
Readers will recall vandals had targeted trees this March in Coho Park Trail, and later near the Raven’s Plateau in Valleycliffe.
In trees targeted on Coho Park, one was felled, while the other was cut quite deeply, raising safety concerns for frequent trail users.
Don MacDonald, the forestry officer who oversees such investigations, said the trees targeted in both cases seemed to be targeted for vandalism, not for commercial purposes.
MacDonald said he investigates around 15 cases of illegal tree cutting every year.
Illegal tree harvesting for firewood is a common problem he encounters, but the two above mentioned cases were acts of mischief or vandalism.
“They were not very professional in cutting trees. The cuts were made with a small saw and a dull chain,” MacDonald said.
He said there have been six or seven such cases in the past few months.
MacDonald said no one has come forward as witness or provided evidence which makes it difficult to prosecute the culprits.
“It’s frustrating, but we are lucky no one got hurt,” he said.
MacDonald said almost 95 per cent of investigations are focused on illegal harvesting for fire wood.
“I understand the motivation there, but we have cases where someone is felling trees for reasons we can only guess.”
The forestry office has also drawn blank on two other investigations.
In 2009, a popular motorized trail, called the Forgotten Trail in Mount Mulligan area east of Valleycliffe, was left in shambles.
There was evidence of tree cutting and mud bogging, but the trail went cold on this one too.
“There have been no results on that one. We did not find on who did it,” he said.
Same was his conclusion for an investigation into the alleged unauthorized cutting of trees in the upper Paradise Valley.
MacDonald said he encourages people to report such instances of tree cutting to the forestry department.
“If you are riding your bike, and you see some suspicious activity, inform us,”
Don Patrick says
This type of operation is just the tip of the iceberg. We have so many immigrants where the practice of taking what they need when they need it is normal in their culture. I wonder just how may deer and other wild life is destroyed by these folks that seem to think it is right. My opinion, we have earned priveledges in this country but not many rights. The population increases in the last 30 years does not allow un-limited rights. Often wonder why the Cougars are looking at people… maybe because the deers are in someone’ stew pot. Hunters are out there based on the past food hunters theories which started when the cave man was active and are regulated, but these night hunters are not…. and do conservation officiers even work at night unless they are on double time or … even go out after 5 pm ? and there are not enough of them on the payroll. If I was a looking person, I would stop every rental truck and van going down our highway in the middle of the night… may even find that stolen lawn mower and other stuff that seems to disappear duing the evening hours. Must quit watching NCIS. Cheers
Aaron says
How dare you try and place blame on immigrants…stupid humans are just that – stupid! Go back to your hole you bumpkin!
Don Patrick says
Open your mind Arron.. you are showing your background.
Aaron says
Well that’s the pot calling the kettle black! The fact that you try and blame things like this on people from different cultural background clearly demonstrates one thing. You sir, are a bigot! Try opening your own mind.