SEATTLE — Firewood poaching is becoming a problem in the Olympic National Forest, so much so that timber managers are wondering if they need to change some policies or just do a better job educating the public.
People can buy inexpensive permits to cut firewood in certain areas of the national forests, but Forest Service officials say some people are cutting without a permit in protected areas.
The rules restrict firewood cutting to areas along Forest Service roads and live trees cannot be cut under any circumstances.
“What is alarming is that they are not only removing downed trees, but people are cutting standing Douglas fir trees well over 100 years old and removing them for firewood,” Dean Yoshina, Hood Canal District ranger for the Olympic National Forest, told the Peninsula Daily News.
Officials at other national forests in Washington say firewood poaching is more of a problem in the summer and spring, because winter weather closes many Forest Service roads and inhibits most potential poachers from taking wood from public lands.
Most illegal harvesting, but not all, in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest happens during warmer weather, said Lee Redmond, special forest products forester.
The forester said his department and forest law enforcement don’t have enough staff to watch every inch of the forest, but with the public’s help, they can protect this valuable commodity.
“When there’s stealing from the forest, it’s the American people who are getting stolen from,” Redmond said. He encouraged people who see something they think may not be legal to report it to the local ranger district.
The Wenatchee National Forest has seen some firewood poaching during the spring and summer, but winter harvesting — with or without a permit — is nearly impossible because most of its roads are covered in snow, said forest spokeswoman Robin DeMario.
Olympic National Forest officials said the Forest Service may have to ban cutting permits for some areas if cutters don’t stop poaching firewood.
Twenty cords worth about $3,000 were illegally harvested in the Lords Lake area southwest of Quilcene during the first week in February. Other trouble spots include the area around access roads east of Sequim and Lost Mountain west of Sequim.
Violations have increased sixfold, from 13 in 2006 to 80 in 2008, said John Klaasen, Forest Service patrol captain for law enforcement and investigations for northwest Washington.
Klaasen predicted more poachers were out there, but with only a few officers patrolling his district’s 800 miles of Forest Service roads, it’s hard to be at the right place at the right time to catch violators.
“The hardest part is catching somebody,” he said. “Much of our time is wasted driving around looking for someone.”
More than half of the violations are committed by permitted cutters who decide to cut outside the legal zone.
“People are feeling like, hey, nobody is out there in the woods as far as the Forest Service is concerned, this is a good time to take advantage of the situation,” Klaasen said.
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