On Aug. 6, 2015, a Winlock, Washington wood buyer and his lumber mill plead guilty in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to violating the Lacey Act for trafficking in Big Leaf Maple cut from Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

The wood buyer Harold Clause Kupers, and his company J & L Tonewoods admitted purchasing multiple cuts of wood without requiring the seller to show a valid Specialized Forest Products Permit. In his plea agreement Kupers admits he suspected the wood had been illegally cut in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Kupers faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and at least $159,000 in restitution when sentenced by U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle on February 8, 2016.

Three men who illegally cut the wood were charged with theft of government property and damaging government property for illegally harvesting the maple trees in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The DNA collected by scientists showed a match that identified the exact stumps from which poachers had illegally harvested the logs.