The first-ever use of tree DNA in a prosecution sends a poacher to prison...

[DGUtley]

The first-ever use of tree DNA in a prosecution sends a poacher to prison...

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A case in Washington State represents the first use of DNA evidence from trees during a prosecution in a federal criminal trial.

Justin Andrew Wilke, 39, and a crew of associates were found to have conducted an illegal logging operation in the Elk Lake area of the Olympic National Forest, between April and August 2018. The group removed highly prized maple trees — used to produce musical instruments such as violins and guitars — and forged permits to sell the wood, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office Western District of Washington. Wilke was sentenced on Monday.

At the trial, a research geneticist for the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Forest Service testified that the wood Wilke sold was a genetic match to the remains of three poached maple trees that investigators had discovered in the Elk Lake area. The DNA analysis was so precise that it found the probability of the match being coincidental was approximately 1 in 1 undecillion (1 followed by 36 zeros), the statement added.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...gn=wp_national

[MMC]

Tree Equity, huh?

[Dr. Who]

The first-ever use of tree DNA in a prosecution sends a poacher to prison...

Attachment 44441

A case in Washington State represents the first use of DNA evidence from trees during a prosecution in a federal criminal trial.

Justin Andrew Wilke, 39, and a crew of associates were found to have conducted an illegal logging operation in the Elk Lake area of the Olympic National Forest, between April and August 2018. The group removed highly prized maple trees — used to produce musical instruments such as violins and guitars — and forged permits to sell the wood, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office Western District of Washington. Wilke was sentenced on Monday.

At the trial, a research geneticist for the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Forest Service testified that the wood Wilke sold was a genetic match to the remains of three poached maple trees that investigators had discovered in the Elk Lake area. The DNA analysis was so precise that it found the probability of the match being coincidental was approximately 1 in 1 undecillion (1 followed by 36 zeros), the statement added.

Attachment 44442


Attachment 44443

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...gn=wp_national

From the same link:

"In 2018 Wilke and two others decided one night to cut a bigleaf maple, which contained a wasp’s nest near the tree’s base. To remove the nest, they sprayed insecticide and likely gasoline before lighting it on fire. The group failed to extinguish the fire, which developed into a wildfire and became known as the Maple Fire.
It consumed more than 3,300 acres between August and November 2018 and cost approximately $4.2 million to contain, the court said."

This idiot needs to be in jail.

[QuaseMarco]

It's becoming treepidatious.

[carolina73]

I'm going to test my dining room chairs to see if they really do belong to my table.




But growing up in New England it sounds strange to hear of maple trees being protected. They were weeds.