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Please keep eye out for this. They steal from all of us. Report suspicious activity.
Get a permit and do it the legal way.
Yep a lot of scum bags that's for sure,,,,,, my wife shops at all those cute hippie tourist spots, along the coast line, see all the birch goods, I always wondered, how many of those artist, are thieves
"We don’t necessarily want to get a bunch of people in the room and say, 'Hey, how can we write a bunch of tickets?'" Zebro said
Why the heck not!? Especially if the thieves are making a profit from this.
A public relation ploy from Zebro - their serious and they WILL write as many citations as they can.
I believe they just say that not to sound over-zealous to the general public.
Saw a truck with a giant bundle of red and yellow twig dogwood in waushara county this past fall and wonder if it was stolen. Not valuable as a birch tree but still wondered
Birch theft is huge here in Washburn county. I'm on a dead end road with a lot of Birch trees this size, so I'm always aware of what's going on. They don't call our town Birchwood for nothing.
This has also been going on for years in Northern Bayfield County... HOOT I am sure you have seen stripped birch trees etc in your ventures up there!
Where do I find this black market for Birch, I had a few go down in the winds 2 weeks ago. Here I was gonna use them for heat
Northbound, just drop off at our Gardencenter and I will dispose of for you.
Well crap. I just burned a bunch of birch that went down in high winds. To think I could of been getting 6 or 7 bucks a log.
MF - Yes I've seen a lot of it up there too!
I see this around here a lot. Can't prove it was illegal when they are just hauling it down the road. I have turned in a few trucks parked on backroads. Not legal on National Forest and some counties. I think there should be no permits for this since the birch is in trouble and with no permits, it would be simple to cite them.
My experience burning it is if it's not split soon after its down that it rots from inside... how do you make it last if left in log form? During harder times 09to10 ish. Construction was scarce so I'd sell firewood for side cash. There was a guy that paid me double if the load was all Birch. He said the crackle from the fireplace kept his wife so happy and entertained, only time she would be quiet.... maybe that was just a cover story and he was reselling all that white gold!
In my college years there was a guy in a small town west of Two Rivers (I think Whitelaw) that made birch bark canoes. I figured I should have one when I landed a job after college. When I found out his prices and how long his waiting list was I lost interest.
Never knew there was a market for it either. Got plenty around still and cut up a bunch 2 years ago, which is still stacked for campfire wood.
This article is from last March and the meeting was held. Some press was given afterward but the problem continues. I have no link to the update from the meeting. If one gets a permit, what stops them from cutting where they are not supposed to be cutting? They can tell the buyer that they cut it from private property so what good is that? I have been told that Paper birch as a species is losing ground. You might see a lot on a piece of property but overall it is not doing well.
The people cutting Birch get paid a lot of money, way more than bough cutters make.
Smokey....Doesn't birch grow well (certain spots of the logging operation) in areas that have recently been logged? Why is it at the old log landings there usually is birch growing?
Big money for things made with birch on them. We recently priced a new bathroom cabinet. The door is maybe 24x30 and the price difference with an oak frame to hold the mirror versus one with a birch bark frame was like $200. Sure the labor would be more complicated to cut the birch sticks into a frame but we were shocked.
I have a stand of young straight birch so I looked up a buyer and they pay $1.00 to $1.25 for an 8" stick. Delivery only on Tuesday or Thursday and 300 miles from my home. Not worth my effort.
MF, yes, also pburns are good but burn conditions for Birch regen is on the extreme so not seeing much of that being done. My point was about the species and over its range.
Is yellow birch also being stolen?
I have some volunteer white birch on my place in an area that I mow. One looked sickish and the dried leafs are still stuck to it. Another next to it is fine. Both are about 4" diameter, maybe a little more. BUT both are ringed with holes from pecking by some sort of sap sucker. I suspect that is why the one looked sick so I am guessing the days are numbered for the other one too. Wonder how much that sort of thing is affecting birch in general.
Those two birch are close to an oak is that taller than those birch so I was thinking birch would go pretty soon anyway.
My place in Marinette was loaded with birch 30-40 years ago. Then all of a sudden they began falling all over the place. Now...there's no mature birch but many newer trees in the past 5 years.
I don't know if the birds are causing it or are attracted to them because they're dying.
The one tree has no sign of dying yet but has the holes in the bark. Pretty sure the holes at least weaken the tree and maybe an infection of some sort comes after that. Noticed yesterday that a clump of 3 birch that I transpanted from a neighbors woodlot has holes on one of the tree trunks too. When I do birch clumps I plant 3 individual single trunks about 2-3 feet apart in a triangle pattern so their trunks never get tight and pinch each other off as they grow. Also when I do trimming I disinfect the tool so I don't have any chance of moving a disease from one tree to another.
Also, never use a chain saw to trim a tree. If you need to rid a big branch you can use a chain saw to clip the branch off a foot or so long preferably using an undercut first. Then immediately come back with a disinfected hand saw and cut the stub close to the trunk with that. I think I infected several apple trees using a chain saw many years ago.
Same precautions apply to trimming out shooting lanes.
3 years ago I found a spot right off a gravel road where someone cut 12-20 spruce trees 10-18" diameter off tight at the ground and left the trees. Then they dug around and cut and pulled w/ a skidder the stump w/ roots which must have been around 48"-60" diameter. What would this have been used for?
WausauDug - Could be used for the base of a table. Tree stump/root bases are popular. One thing I've noticed is townships will brush hog the heck out roadsides ripping up Birch trees to no end. They could be making a little money on the sale of the trees they destroyed.
Do Birch trees do well in sandy dry soil?
They seem to do well around me in the sandy soil.
This article is in the Sawyer county newspaper.
Wisconsin officials are joining efforts with federal and tribal authorities to halt birch tree timber thefts threatening Wisconsin’s woodlands. Birch trees are a renewable resource important to the state’s economy, environment and culture.
Increasing demand for birch products is putting the state’s birch at risk, as illegal harvests continue on national, state, county and private properties. Increasing market demand for birch in home and business decor keeps making it a problem year after year.
Wisconsin’s paper birch is now only 2.5 percent of forested land in the state, a decline of 54 percent since 1983.
“It is important to sustainably manage Wisconsin’s paper birch trees for woodland diversity and to protect this resource,” says DNR forest management bureau director Carmen Hardin.
“The DNR developed a pilot program to make permits available for state properties, in limited situations, for people who want to collect birch sapling and trees legally, responsibly and with minimal negative impacts to the forest.”
Anyone who suspects someone is illegally harvesting white birch on public or private lands should contact a local DNR warden using the DNR hotline 1-800-TIP-WDNR (847-9367).
For more information, search “harvesting non-commercial forest products” on the DNR website.
