Here in the Pacific Northwest, fire seasons are growing longer, and wildfires larger and more numerous, because of hot dry summers and lack of rain.
Many forest fires are human-caused by careless smokers and campers, fireworks, and so on. Shouldn’t we all be angry about this? It hurts all of us, because fighting wildfires costs taxpayers millions, and the stupidity of a few people can lead to limiting or closing access to public recreational lands for all of us.
Justin Andrew Wilke, 40, and Shawn Edward Williams, 51, are tree poachers. They scouted Olympia National Forest for maple trees, cut them down, and sold the logs to a mill, pocketing over $13,000 from timber stolen from federal lands.
Maple, a valuable wood, requires a special harvest permit. They had one, but only for private land, and used it as cover so they could sell the stolen wood to an unsuspecting mill.
On August 3, 2018, they set a fire (photo below) that destroyed 3,300 acres of national forest and cost $4.2 million to put out. There was a wasp nest in a tree they wanted to cut down, so they doused it with gasoline to burn the wasps out.
The fire got out of control and spread (read story here). Federal prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence to convict them of arson, but were able to connect wood they’d sold to stumps of three stolen trees with DNA (see story here).
Williams, who pled guilty to theft of public property and setting timber afire, got 30 months in prison (see story here). Wilke, who was convicted by a jury of stealing and trafficking in stolen public timber, got 20 months in prison (see press release here). They’ll probably serve less actual time, as most inmates get parole.
The fire was an accident, but was caused by wanton carelessness and while committing a crime. The sentences seem short to me, and they can’t possibly pay for the damage and costs they caused. It seems to me they should never get any kind of timber harvest permit again, and should be banned for life from national forests.
