Magnificent maples are being felled illegally for their rare wood

BREMERTON, Wash. -- Tree-cutting thieves laid waste to numerous large, aging maple trees on public property in Kitsap County this week -- presumably to cash in on valuable "figured" maple used to make musical instruments.In recent days, between 20 and 30 old maple trees have been removed from the Bremerton watershed, according to Bremerton Public Works Director Phil Williams.Two old maples, one nearly four feet across, were cut down at the Kitsap County fairgrounds. County parks officials have valued their figured maple wood at $25,000.Law enforcement caught two men allegedly involved in separate incidents of theft at the fairgrounds in Central Kitsap and within the Bremerton watershed near Gorst.Because of the value of the rare maples, both men were charged with felonies.They are Mark Douglas McCoy, 42, who was arrested during an incident early Monday morning at the fairgrounds, and Donny Raymond Seamans, 48, who was arrested in a separate incident Tuesday evening within the Bremerton watershed."I am sick over the loss of those trees," said Chip Faver, director of Kitsap County Parks and Recreation. "This is something stolen from our entire community, and it's something we can't replace in 100 years. This is not a petty crime like somebody stealing a TV set. The entire community should be genuinely angry about this."The wood from figured maple trees is valuable for its distinct tiger-stripe pattern. This unusual pattern creates the illusion of depth in a flat board. The effect is so powerful that musicians often pay high prices for guitars and fiddles made from the enchanting wood.Whether this week's incidents mark the beginning of a new rash of maple thefts in Kitsap County is hard to say, because similar incidents have occurred over the past few years, according to Deputy Scott Wilson, spokesman for the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office.Tom French, who buys figured maple for the export market, said he has observed what appears to be an increase in stolen maples."Since last winter, it has been terrible," said French, who refuses to buy suspect wood, including small blocks of maple. "I have stopped taking blocks. Usually, I make the land owner come in before I will buy the wood."Big leaf maples in Western Washington may contain the rare pattern in only a couple of feet of the tree, if at all. The figure may be on only one side of the trunk or go deep inside the tree. Thieves frequently slice a maple into sections in search of the rare wood, leaving much of the tree in small pieces on the ground."These are beautiful mature maple trees that provide shade to Anderson Creek," public works director Williams said. "They (the thieves) just whacked them down into the creek. As a manager of publicly owned assets, the thought that some idiot can walk in somehow think that this is OK makes me angry."(Christopher Dunagan is a reporter for The Sun in Bremerton, Wash.)