Three men from Washington state convicted of stealing old-growth cedar trees have been ordered to pay US$340,000 in compensation.
The trio were found guilty of the theft of 30 cords of wood, which was sold to local mills. The wood was cut from old-growth forest and some of the trees were more than 600 years old.
Sitting in the US District Court in Seattle, Judge Robert Leighton agreed to assistant US attorney Jim Oesterie’s request for the court to impose restitution based on the ecological value of the trees.
