Tree poaching and poverty: Understanding the history of black market timber – CTV News

The issue of tree poaching may be a familiar story to people in British Columbia but, as writer Lyndsie Bourgon explores in her new book, the reasons why some choose to steal old-growth trees is more complicated than she initially thought.

Speaking to CTV’s Your Morning on Thursday, Bourgon, author of “Tree Thieves: Crime and Survival in North America’s Woods,” said the timber black market costs B.C. an estimated $20 million each year.

In the United States, tree poaching can be worth up to $100 million annually and up to $1 billion across North America.