Illegal loggers pillage forests
Crime and criminals come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from gunmen in sagging shorts to con men in suits and ties. But while we have become accustomed to stolen cash, stolen jewelry, and even stolen cars, there are thieves in Belize’s rural areas who have set their sights much higher… specialising in the crime of stealing trees. This morning cameraman George Tillett and I were hot on their trail off the Hummingbird Highway.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
More than fifty percent of Belize is still dominated by forest, but that doesn’t mean marketable timber is plentiful. In fact, as the big trees become more scarce, treasured species like Mahogany and cedar have become prime targets for illegal loggers. To curb this activity, the Forest Department, accompanied by members of the Dragon Unit, conduct patrols in areas identified as likely targets.
Percival Cho, Forestry Officer
“The St. Margaret’s area, and including Armenia they are all connected by roads is one of the hotspots in the Cayo District for illegal logging. We receive reports almost every month about people taking out lumber illegally. We have to wait sometimes before we can actually respond to these reports.”
JC
“Wait for a vehicle, wait for personnel?”
Percival Cho
“Wait for, most of the time vehicle. We have personnel ready on hand but it’s the transportation that’s the limitation for us.”
And today was no exception, as both the police and the forestry officers hitched a ride with the News 5 crew.
Today, the enforcers were in the Five Blues Lake National Park responding to a report of illegal logging. Residents from nearby St. Margaret’s Village reported seeing several people leave the area with planks of lumber.
The park, best known for its spectacular lagoon, has several mountain trails. The paths are tough going and at several points, the group must climb over, under, and even hang off limestone outcroppings.
Approximately twenty minutes down one of the trails, we find an abandoned camp, complete with food, supplies and evidence of recent logging activity…but none of the chainsaw loggers are found.
According to forestry officials, the people who camp here are smart enough to know that the authorities aren’t patrolling on the weekend. They wait until then to cut the trees into planks and move them out of the area at night. The officers estimate this camp is at least three months old. A GPS check and crosscheck on a map verifies we are still in the park.
The fallen trees have punched a hole in the foliage. The bounty they have taken is a fifty-year-old mahogany.
Percival Cho
“Mahogany trees need a stamp mark before they can be felled and converted to lumber. I’ve checked this stump and there is no hammer mark present or release mark. Therefore this tree was felled illegally.”
Justo Navas is one of the park’s wardens. Navas says the loggers have reverted to a more traditional way of transporting the lumber.
Justo Navas, Park Warden
“They bring the lumber, they throw it in the water, float it down across the park. There they get the tractor and take the lumber out, put it on a big truck and sell it.”
Navas says despite clearly displayed warnings of prosecution for illegal logging, the constant drum of a chainsaw often pierces the quiet of the forest.
Justo Navas
“We hear a lot of logging, a lot of chainsaws but we don’t know whether it’s legal or illegal.”
That’s right, the issue of illegal logging in this area is compounded because certain individuals have been granted the right to log here legally by way of a permit. Near to the trees illegally felled, we find the stamp of a forestry officer’s hammer on a gigantic cedar tree.
Percival Cho
“It have an F and a D. And inside is the number which is eighteen. This is a cedar tree. Cedar and mahogany require a stamp to be felled.”
Janelle Chanona
“What’s the procedure is you guys are out on patrol and you find somebody logging illegally?”
Percival Cho
“In the first instance we ask them if they have a permit to fall a tree. If they do not, then we have to confiscate the lumber and any equipment, including the chainsaws. And we either take them in to the nearest police station and we ask them to come in and pay for the tree if the situation warrants that.”
But the maximum penalty of a thousand dollars fine and a six-month jail term is easily dwarfed by what the loggers can earn for the stolen wood.
Percival Cho
“Mahogany is very valuable, especially on the illegal market. Trees like cedar and mahogany fetch two dollars and fifty cents a board feet on the local market and government sells it at one twenty-four per cubic feet.”
Janelle Chanona
“So a tree this size would get how much?”
Percival Cho
“A tree this size would get about almost six thousand dollars on the market.
In most cases, we actually feel like we’re getting something done, but it’s good that we have publicity like this sometimes to get across to the public the need to understand the laws when it comes to forests. And also the need to conserve what we have already, our existing resources because logging is slowing down on a whole and we have to protect what we have remaining.”
Janelle Chanona
“Given the limitations of the Forestry Department, it’s safe to assume that the practice of illegal logging will continue in this area and other parts of the country so long as those responsible decide to act unlawfully. Reporting from the Five Blues Lake National Park, I am Janelle Chanona for News 5.”
