There's a huge hole in the forest on someone's private land, and this time it's not in Boston village but instead in the south. We visited another illegal logging site today which stretched miles into the forest. Jomarie Lanza went hiking along with the landowners today to see the damage. Here's how it went.
It's left a gaping hole in the earth, and it's more than just an eyesore to these private property owners in the south. The Usher brothers own approximately 70 acres of land in the Mayflower area, and to their shock and dismay, what was once a lush plot of land teeming with greenery, and massive mahogany and Zericote trees, is now a graveyard for logwood, with tractor tire trails.
Chadwick Usher, Private Landowner
"Today it would be two months. When we came back here it was the 26th of June just to resurvey block 12 and 17 with somebody that could survey the area and from the area out at the junction we saw a loader and a bulldozer operated by some mennonites loading a truck and so we had no idea what was happening inside. And when we came in then we saw that there was some logs already with a bulldozer hauling about 3 logs and the junction of block 12."
"It was a surprise to us because we did not give anybody permission to enter into our property and when I checked there was a Mennonite with two Spanish guys just hauling, according to them just hauling the last three logs from out of our area."
"I asked them who gave them permission you know and I asked the Mennonite name and he said he was Jackson, right that is the name that he gave me and we moved out and there was a hill right after that and I went back to take some pictures of him hauling out the logs and also took pictures off the vehicle that was up on top and it had an orange walk license plate."
And after walking up and down several hills of bulldozed trails, the brothers realized that it's not just their property that was clear cut. They believe the loggers burrowed deeper into the forest cutting down and hauling out the biggest trees they could find.
Osbert Usher, Property Owner, Mayflower Area
"I Myself did not do the environmental aspect but we had some professionals doing it and they came up with satellite pictures from when they started to see actions happening here in this area and they found out that there is approximately 3.2 kilometers of road that was made within the land both from my brother and other adjacent landowners. They calculated the damage to my land and my brother's land to be around 90,000 in environmental damage as several kilometers of road was dug and pushed within the land, very many trees were brought out and they calculated the trees to be around $25,000. So we are seeking legal advice and making certain that we get all appropriate details so as to prosecute the guy who illegally was or is doing the damage to our property."
"There are several species of lumber that they cut there were mahoganies, some of them was the Gumbolimbo I think they have some cabbage bark, the assessment details even with precision, GPS of location where the stumps are left after these logs had fell, and like I said the estimation is about 25k worth of lumber and he says that is a very conservative estimate. As there are logs still in the forest being chopped down it just so happens that we came upon then and they stopped their operations immediately I believe the subsequent day of my brother encountering them they left with all their equipment I believe during the night as we saw Friday after coming here and looking at the damage that has happened we saw a bulldozer in front of the guy's house the guy Melvin and I took pictures, people around the area told me that there was lots of noise happening with heavy equipment so I believe that same night that bulldozer was carried to that location. We saw tracks on the road where other bulldozers just walked their way out this area."
Usher says they counted up to 175 logs cut and left on the ground. And aside from going through the proper channels to ensure these loggers are held accountable, they face an even bigger headache. Cleaning up the mess that was left behind.
Chadwick Usher, Private Landowner
"When my brother came down on Friday we went to the police station and we reported the matter and so we brought up 2 police I think it was a corporal and another policeman came up, they saw it and we did a report after that."
"If we did not come back here that day to bring the guy to resurvey the area we would have never known anything about it."
Osbert Usher, Property Owner, Mayflower Area
"Certainly if there were stricter laws and penalties individuals would stop doing these illegal activities. I heard just recently in Boston village there was an illegal logging operation and this is one that has been happening and if we didn't accidentally come up upon this, this would have gone unnoticed and we would have lost the logs the environmental damage we would have had to deal with it my brother had plans to put trails in the area to help expand his hotel business and now this comes here and the land is damage there is lots of ruts in the land, lots of tractor holes, there are lots of mud, trails, environmental damage in the sense of water breaking down the land making valleys and drains and grooves in the land and yeah it is a lot of damage."
And now the brothers have to figure out who they can hold liable for the tens of thousands of dollars in loss and damages - and while they can sue - the earth and the forest can only slowly recover and regenerate from the brutal footprint of lawless extraction.
We did reach out to the Forestry Department for comment and learned that an investigation is underway into the incident. Deputy chief John Pineolo says a logging license was granted but the challenge is in determining which trees were logged from the authorized area and which were taken from the private property. He says by the end of the week the department will come to a decision on how to proceed legally against the person who was licensed to log. In the meantime - the logger has been told that the logs must remain in place.
