The Adirondack Council

News Release

For more information:
John F. Sheehan
518-432-1770

Released, Wednesday, October 1, 2003

FAYETTEVILLE, NY--The Adirondack Council today commended Governor Pataki for signing into a law a bill that sets modern penalties for stealing trees from New York's constitutionally protected Forest Preserve.
Senator Elizabeth Little, R-Queensbury, and Assemblyman William Parment, D-Ashville, sponsored the bill. Governor Pataki signed it prior to the opening of the Empire State Forest Product Association's 97th Annual Meeting at The Craftsman Inn here.

"It's about time we declared that rare, high-value hardwood trees on the Forest Preserve are worth more than the admission price to a movie," said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal. "Finally we have some penalties that more closely reflect the market value of the timber being stolen from all New Yorkers."

The existing paltry $10 fine per tree had been established in 1909. The new penalty will be at least $250 per tree, or "treble damages" (three times the market value), or both. The law also considers the illegal timber cutting a Class A Misdemeanor, instead of a simple violation. The offender could also be made to repair or pay restitution for damage done to the forest.

"We have worked long and hard with these sponsors and other members of the Legislature to ensure passage of a bill that made sense for conservationists and private landowners," Houseal said. "A special congratulations goes to Senator Little for accomplishing this during her first year in the New York State Senate."

Other legislators who have worked on this issue include retired Adirondack Senator Ronald Stafford, former Assembly EnCon Chairman Richard Brodsky, D-Scarsdale, and current EnCon Chairs Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli, D-Great Neck, and Senator Carl Marcellino, R-Syosset.

In addition to increasing the penalty for timber theft in the Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserves, this law would also apply to all other land, private or public, across the state.

The $250 penalty could be waived only if the defendant can prove "with clear and convincing evidence" that he thought the trees belonged to him or that he had a legal right to cut them. Even inadvertent cutters would still be liable for repairing the damage and reimbursing the rightful owner for the value of the trees.

"The provisions of this law take a common sense approach. People who are caught stealing need to pay back the value of what was taken," Houseal said. "No one should be able to pay an insignificant fine and still make a profit by stealing trees from public lands. This new law changes that."

An additional provision of the law was designed to give the DEC Commissioner the right to review and comment upon any proposed change in local law that restricts forest harvesting practices. While local governments would be required to wait up to 45 days for DEC to review and comment on a proposed law, local governments would not be obligated to heed the Commissioner's advice.

This law will go into effect March 1, 2004.

The Adirondack Council is dedicated to ensuring the ecological integrity and wild character of the Adirondack Park. Founded in 1975, the Council is an 18,000-member, privately funded, not-for-profit organization with offices in Albany and Elizabethtown.