"VANCOUVER - A giant 800-year-old red cedar tree has been poached from a provincial park on southern Vancouver Island, but the culprits who repeatedly returned to the site to hack it down may never be brought to justice."

"Torrance Coste of the Wilderness Committee said consistent budget cuts over the last decade mean park rangers rarely monitor remote sites such as the Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park, from where the cedar was chopped.

'Whoever's doing this knows that no one's going to have eyes on this park for months at a time so it's exceptionally easy to do what they've done,' Coste said Thursday.

He said that last month, a member of the environmental group became aware of the poached tree and took a photo of about 20 per cent of its remains."

Camille Bains reports for the Canadian Press May 17, 2012. [2]