Feds: ‘Music wood’ poachers targeted Washington old growth maples Quartet accused of stealing $800k in wood from Gifford Pinchot National Forest

Illegally harvested maple trees, pictured in a Justice Department photo. Illegally harvested maple trees, pictured in a Justice Department photo. Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close Feds: ‘Music wood’ poachers targeted Washington old growth maples 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

Four men accused of poaching old-growth maple from a Washington national forest have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Seattle.

Federal prosecutors claim the quartet illegally logged the massive big leaf maples to steal wood used to make pricey musical instruments. The men are alleged to have stolen trees from Gifford Pinchot National Forest in southwest Washington.

In an indictment unsealed Tuesday, prosecutors say Ryan Anthony Justice, 28, James Michael Miller, 36, and Kevin James Mullins, 56, stole wood from the national forest, located east of Chehalis. Prosecutors are also targeting Harold Clause Kupers, 48, and his Winlock-based business, J&L Tonewoods, claiming it was a front for poached maple.

"The trees in our national forests belong to all Americans and should not be chopped up to enrich a few,” U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes said in a statement Thursday. "In this case a beautiful and valued resource that is home to endangered species, was felled with some parts just discarded on the forest floor."

The big leaf maple trees alleged to have been taken by the men are described by prosecutors as critical habitat for many species. They’re the last home of the Puget Oregonian snail, a species now extinct in Canada and declining in Washington.

The textured wood known as “figured maple” found in some big leaf maple trees is prized by woodworkers. Writing the court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Wilkinson said blocks of some patterns – “flame maple” and “quilt maple” – sell for hundreds of dollars.

Trees growing on public land are public property. Despite state and federal laws meant to stem timber poaching, though, the U.S. Forest Service estimates $1 billion worth of timber is stolen each year from public and private lands.

Kupers is alleged to have bought stolen maple from Justice, Miller and James. Wilkinson said Kupers helped train the timber thieves who provided his business with poached wood.

According to charging papers, the timber thieves visited Gifford Pinchot National Forest during daylight hours searching for figured maple. Prosecutors say they then returned at night to fell trees and haul rounds and blocks to J&L Tonewoods.

One of the site near the Iron Creek Campground was known as the “slaughterhouse,” Wilkinson said in court papers. There the timber thieves took $95,000-worth of maple in three weeks, the prosecutor said. Thefts were also reported near state Route 508 and the Cispus River, as well as near Dry Creek.

Wilkinson said the timber thieves made 50 sales from October 2011 through March 2012. Kupers then resold the wood for three times the price he’d paid for it, the prosecutor continued, while claiming it had been legally harvested.

From 2011 through 2013, J&L Tonewoods took in more than $800,000 selling illegally possessed maple, Wilkinson told the court. Kupers is alleged to have sold wood to a Maryland guitar maker and an Oregon wood products company, among others.

Similar prosecutions in Washington have netted prison sentences for timber thieves.

Requesting a 15-month prison term for a convicted maple thief, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Diggs said the theft of wood from public lands had “reached near epidemic proportions.”

“State and federal agencies responsible for managing our natural resources report an increasing number of thefts and the likelihood that far more are both unreported and undetected,” Diggs said in December 2012.

Miller was arrested Sunday, prompting federal prosecutors to unseal a July 23 indictment. Miller, of Morton, Justice, of Randle, and Mullins, or Packwood, have been charged with theft of government property and damaging government property, while Kupers and his business were indicted on counts of receiving stolen property and violating an environmental protection law.

Miller pleaded not guilty during an initial hearing Tuesday. Currently jailed, he is set for trial in September, though such deadlines are usually extended. Justice and Miller have also been jailed, while Mullins has not yet made an initial appearance.

Seattlepi.com reporter Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 orlevipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.