Whitehorse officials stumped by rogue lumberjack who leaves logs, but no leads

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Whitehorse metropolis officials are asking for the public’s assistance to fig retired who is chopping down trees on the Millennium Trail.

Mystery logger mightiness beryllium trying to FireSmart way — but cipher knows for sure, says parks supervisor

Cali McTavish · CBC News

· Posted: May 30, 2025 1:18 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

A idiosyncratic connected a riverbank surveys a heap of chopped trees.

Whitehorse metropolis officials are asking for the public's assistance to fig retired who is chopping down trees on the Millennium Trail.

"It's a spot of a enigma astatine this point," said Nicole Tattam, the city's parks supervisor.

Tattam said they presume it's not for firewood, due to the fact that successful 1 instance, whoever did it near the wood stacked neatly successful place.

The felled trees are besides aspen, which she said is not a precise fashionable firewood due to the fact that it burns quickly, produces a batch of smoke and doesn't nutrient a batch of heat.

Another proposal is vigilante FireSmarting — an effort to trim the hazard of fires spreading, should immoderate commencement up successful the area.

"Possibly looks similar they were [dead] leaning trees, truthful that was 1 happening that came to mind, but we're conscionable not sure," Tattam said.

A heap of brushwood and trees connected the crushed adjacent a trail.

Tattam said bylaw officers don't person immoderate leads astatine the moment. She said her squad is focusing connected education.

She said lone metropolis employees tin chopped down lasting trees. Homeowners tin taxable a "tree removal request" to person a histrion removed — for example, if it's threatening to autumn done their roof.

Residents tin besides use for a "cutting authorization" to instrumentality up to 1 cord of wood from logs connected the wood floor. She said the metropolis usually responds to applications wrong a time oregon two.

Tattam said instances similar this are rare.

"This was conscionable a batch of trees, and arsenic acold arsenic we tin tell, unrecorded trees, successful a very, precise nationalist area."

Tattam said she encourages residents to bring immoderate concerns regarding trees oregon FireSmarting wrong metropolis limits to the municipality. She says the Yukon authorities is besides moving hard astatine FireSmarting astir the metropolis truthful "if you're wanting to bash that benignant of work, link with the Parks section first."