New Lacey Case Protects U.S. Forests From Illegal Logging

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today the Department of Justice announced the first Lacey Act prosecution involving illegal logging in the United States. The news broke earlier today that the company J&L Tonewoods has been indicted over allegations of repeated purchases of illegally harvested maple wood in 2011 and 2012 from Washington’s Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

Illegal logging and global forest crime has an estimated worth of $30 to $100 billion U.S. dollars annually.

“The Lacey Act is a crucial tool to combat illegal forest destruction in the US and internationally, and it needs to be fully enforced,” said EIA Executive Director Alexander von Bismarck.

The Lacey Act, originally passed in 1900 to address primarily wildlife poaching, was amended in 2008 to also combat illegal logging. The Environmental Investigation Agency led this effort by coordinating a broad coalition of environmental and forest sector groups advocating for the law’s amendment and now its full implementation.

Other cases since the amendment have included Gibson Guitars, who admitted that they had imported illegal ebony from Madagascar, and Lumber Liquidators, who currently remain under investigation for importing illegal oak from tiger habitat in the Russian Far East.

Violations of the Lacey Act are punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The Department of Justice has also issued a statement. Read here.

Contact:
Maggie Dewane, Press Officer, mdewane@eia-global.org, +1 (202) 483-6621