Thieves Get Rich On Prized Tree Burls -- Base Of Madrone Trees In Demand For Veneer

MEDFORD, Ore. - Backwoods bandits are making big bucks stealing the hearts from century-old madrone trees.

Armed with shovels, pickaxes, chain saws and pickup trucks, they raid national forests and private timberlands for the intricately gnarled wood that is prized as paneling in luxury cars and jets.

"You could probably call it the main theft target in the woods now, dollar-wise," said Deputy Rich Rullamas, who investigates timber theft for the Jackson County sheriff's department.

Theft of other forest products, such as firewood, yew bark for pharmaceuticals, cedar boughs for Christmas wreaths, and mushrooms is probably more prevalent. But when a huge burl can fetch $12,000 on the legitimate market, it becomes a big-ticket crime.

"I found three illegal burls last week myself," Rullamas said.

Legitimate harvest of burls has been going on quietly for years, but theft has been growing as the world market heats up, said Carl Lewis, a forest-products officer with the Rogue River National Forest.

Burls are the enlarged growth at the base of the trunk where roots branch off into the ground. All madrones have a burl, but the biggest ones are found on trees that have survived repeated forest fires by sprouting new trunks over and over again.

Burls sell for 80 cents to $1 per pound, and the veneer peeled from one can bring up to $4 a square foot.

Burls are harvested in winter, when the trees are dormant. Burl hunters may take a week searching for a good one. Then they dig out around the roots to check for rot. They cut the roots to topple a tree, which pulls the burl from the ground. Then they cut the trunk and roll the burl down the hill to a waiting pickup truck or trailer.

On federal lands, legitimate burl hunters call out an inspector from the U.S. Forest Service or U.S. Bureau of Land Management to see whether removing the tree will harm surrounding trees. Then the inspector writes a permit for removing the burl. Permits can cost from $225 to $425.

This winter, the Rogue River National Forest issued 80 burl permits. Anyone caught transporting a burl on state or federal roads without a permit could be prosecuted.

On private lands, burl hunters are supposed to get permission from the landowner, usually for a price.

Burl poachers tend to go to BLM lands, because they are generally at lower elevation and closer to town than the national forests, making it easier to avoid getting caught.