A new crime has surfaced this past year, possibly related to the sick economy. Logging was halted on the remaining 5% of the old growth coastal redwoods, most of which are preserved in Federal or State parks in California and Oregon. These are redwood burls:
These burls are essentially scar tissue that forms over several centuries after a growing redwood gets damaged by fire or mechanical injury. Redwood burls are very beautiful irregular woodgrain that has commercial value far above straight grained redwood lumber, which is now being sustainably farmed. Enter the burl pirates into the parklands:
Burls are used for coffee tables, artsy furniture, guitar bodies, plaques, etc. You can help by not buying these things, knowing that old growth trees are being mutilated on public lands to satisfy the demand for this material. Only 1 out of 20 trees survived the logging industry, we cannot afford to lose the precious remaining few to burl pirates.