exitwound |
03-24-2009 07:00 AM |
Here you go:
Quote:
HOQUIAM, Wash. -- A Cle Elum logger is in trouble with the state's timber police, after he was seen removing logs from the bottom of the Hoquiam River on a popular History Channel show. It turns out, removing the logs without a permit is illegal, and one of those in charge of enforcing the rule just happened to see him on the TV show.
The show is called "Ax Men," which chronicles the lives of Pacific Northwest timber cutters. And one of the loggers featured this season is Jimmy Smith, owner of S&S Aqua Logging.
"We've been in business about three years now," he says on the show. "We recover logs out of the waterways, the hazard logs, and the logs that are on the bottom."
Smith tells the History Channel it's dangerous work. He called himself an underwater accident. But his biggest mistake may have been going on TV.
You see, one of the viewers of the show was Larry Raedel, chief enforcement officer for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources
"We were tippled off by 'Ax Men,'" he said. "We watch the show as well."
The show even identified the river. So Friday, Fisheries, Natural Resources, the Grays Harbor County Sheriff and Hoquiam Police all swooped in.
What's all the fuss when the logs look like junk?
"As far as the Department of Natural Resources, the saying goes: 'We own the mud out there,' and any products that come out of that are property of the state," Raedel said.
What that means is one log may be pretty petit larceny, but a few is first-degree theft.
"Unfortunately theft of the public's resources is an all-too-common occurrence," Raedel said. "But it is unusual for people to document their illegal activity on national television."
Peter Goldmark, the state Commissioner of Public Lands, says submerged timber can be highly valuable for decorative wood. The well-preserved logs are essentially pressure treated and used in high-end applications. If properly permitted, the state's portion of the funds from the removal of these logs would go towards the management and restoration of state-owned aquatic lands.
Goldmark added the logs have high value in the water as a habitat for fish and other wildlife.
Some of the removed logs from the show are sitting on the property of Frank Fitterer. He didn't think there was anything wrong.
"They've been filming out here forever... since last summer," Fitterer said. I asked if there was any attempt to hide what they were doing: "Oh no, well I don't think anyone thought anyone was doing anything wrong."
In fact, Smith even has a Web site advertising the recovered wood. And on the job site, there is even a company logo with phone numbers.
Smith lives in Cle Elum. When he heard of the raid, he immediately went to the Department of Natural Resources, and agents say he's cooperating.
The timber seized included 20 mature trees as well as smaller wood products, between six and 10 feet in length. The largest logs are about 20 to 30 feet long and about three feet in diameter, Raedel said.
Smith said on the show that the logs were worth about $10,000, according to search warrant records.
When "Ax Men" debuted last year, it became the History Channel's most popular series with more than 2 million weekly viewers. This season began airing March 2 and features two timber crews from Washington, two from Oregon and one from Montana.
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