On Jul. 9, 2021, a federal jury convicted a timber thief who authorities said started a large forest fire in Washington state, a case that prosecutors said marked the first time tree DNA had been introduced in a federal trial.

The wood he sold to a mill in the city of Tumwater had been harvested legally, but a research geneticist for the U.S. Forest Service testified that the wood sold genetically matched the remains of three poached trees.