Charge: Iron Range man spent days cutting down, stealing hundreds of birch trees

An Iron Range man has been charged with spending days in the woods with two other men cutting down and stealing roughly 1,200 birch trees from state land in northern Minnesota.

The prosecution of David A. Lawrence, 40, of Aurora, comes as thieves over the past few months have been illegally culling forests in Minnesota and northern Wisconsin of the paper-white trees, which have become popular in home decor.

Law enforcement in both states said the targeted trees are generally young — 10 to 15 years old — and range in size from 2 to 4 inches in diameter and 10 to 18 feet tall.

Lawrence was charged last week by summons in St. Louis County District Court with timber trespass on state lands, a gross misdemeanor. He was not immediately available to respond to the allegations, and court records show no attorney for him.

The birch trees were valued at about $3,400, which includes the felled trees and the cost to repair the damage to the woodlands, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

A harvester can generally sell each tree, referred to as a pole, for about $1.

Lt. Shelly Patten, a DNR enforcement supervisor in that part of the state, said Tuesday that her agency believes Lawrence and his two partners are responsible for those 1,200 trees being stolen.

A gross misdemeanor was the most serious level of charge possible in this case, the lieutenant said, adding, "We looked into charging it as a felony."

Patten said this is the first case of timber trespass involving birch charged in the state above a misdemeanor. In another case, a citation was issued in St. Louis County for harvesting birch without a permit.

According to the criminal complaint:

A state conservation officer on patrol March 17 southwest of Embarrass spotted a path leading into the woods off Tower Biwabik Road and went into the forest. He heard trees being chopped and falling, and saw a pile of birch trees on the trail.

The officer approached Lawrence, who was with two other men and said the three were cutting birch trees together and pooling their harvest. He said his pile had about 100 trees.

As for the two men with Lawrence, Patten said they were not charged because they are American Indian and were cutting in an area covered by a treaty from the 1850s.

Harvesting birch is legal in some areas, with proper permitting from the state or permission from a private landowner.

Permitting allows the state to manage the resource; otherwise, the long-term supply of birch in the state is threatened, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.