"The ‘Senseless Maiming’ of the Redwoods"

"The biggest of northern California’s giant redwood trees grow more than 250 ft. tall, with a circumference greater than 90 ft. at their base. The oldest have seen more than 3,000 years. These majestic trees have been here long before us, and if left undisturbed, would still be growing after everyone on the planet was dead.

But they have been disturbed. Years of logging have left less than 5 percent of the old-growth coastal redwood trees standing, most of them in the protected Redwood National and State Parks. Logging was banned decades ago, but in recent years the redwoods have been faced with a new threat. Under the cover of night, poachers sneak into the parks and shave off the burls at the base of the tree.

A knotty growth of bark, the burls are filled with unspotted bud tissue—should a redwood tree fall, a burl can sprout a new tree. The burls, which fetch thousands of dollars on the black market, contain the DNA of the tree, a genetic line that can date back thousands of years. Removing the burl can kill the tree and end that line."

Bryan Walsh reports for TIME June 3, 2017, with photographs by Kirk Crippens and Gretchen LeMaistre.