iStock/goce
Earlier this year, Sierra magazine wrote about using high-tech surveillance gear, including cell phones, to catch illegal loggers. Thankfully, that’s not the only technological advance helping to combat this worldwide problem. This year drones monitoring Peruvian rainforests and a forensic lab identifying rare strains of wood are just two examples of how new technology is ramping up the fight against illegal logging.
Located in Ashland, Oregon, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Lab is the only forensics laboratory in the world dedicated to wildlife crime enforcement. Since its inception in 1988, the lab has specialized in identifying types of wildlife and analyzing evidence in wildlife-related crimes.
Now, the Forensics Lab has joined the fight against illegal logging. Using its sophisticated mass spectrometer, the lab can determine the chemical signature of a piece of wood and match it to reference samples. By determining whether a shipment is comprised of illegal Brazilian rosewood, as opposed to legal East Indian rosewood, the lab can help track imports of illegal wood products, which violate the U.S. Lacey Act. Under the Lacey Act, importers must take due care to ensure wood products have been sourced legally, with violators facing fines or jail time.
In Peru, the Amazon Basin Conservation Association and a graduate student from Wake Forest University have teamed up to use drones to catch illegal loggers and miners. Located in the Madre de Dios region in southeastern Peru, the conservancy runs a concession roughly one-third the size of Rhode Island. Since there are no paved roads in the reserve, the conservancy has partnered with Max Messinger, a Wake Forest biology grad student, who has outfitted drones with autopilot functions, as well as video and still cameras. Weighing in around five pounds and only three feet wide, these single-wing drones can fly more than 10 miles. Flying below clouds, the drones can capture high resolution footage of illegal logging and mining activity. Halting illegal activity within the reserve is still a challenge; however, the drones will help detect these activities earlier and allow for better enforcement.
Unfortunately, illegal logging is still big business. Worth an estimated at $30-100 billion annually, illegal deforestation also contributes to climate disruption and threatens communities. Learn more about deforestation, how the United States can use the Lacey Act to stop illegal logging, and raise your voice to ask the administration to fully enforce the law.