They were turning a publicly owned bridge in WA into shingles. Until they got busted
Wood thieves have reached a new low. A troll-like low. They’re now stealing wooden support beams from underneath bridges.
Two men were arrested Friday in Jefferson County after they were found using a chainsaw to allegedly carve up a cedar log like a Thanksgiving turkey.
The log, at the time, was very much in use holding up a bridge on publicly owned land administered by the state Department of Natural Resources. The area is near the Clearwater River, a tributary of the Queets River on Washington’s rugged Pacific Ocean coast.
DNR seemed a little incredulous at the brazen crime.
“Can’t believe we have to say this, but don’t take chainsaws to our bridges,” DNR tweeted.
DNR said hunters were in the area and heard the chainsaw. They notified the agency.
“Officer Allen Nelson was already in the area and discovered two people cutting chunks out of the cedar logs that form the base of a bridge,” DNR said.
The two men were booked into Jefferson County Jail for investigation of felony charges. Their vehicle and equipment are being held as evidence, DNR said. The bridge was behind a locked gate which had its lock forcibly removed.
DNR said the cedar chunks likely would have been sold on the black market. Mill owners turn them into shake and shingles, the agency said.
The bridge, if sufficiently weakened, could have posed a safety threat to DNR personnel and the public, the agency said.
DNR has 13 full time officers to patrol 3 million acres, the agency said.
