Globally, transnational crime is valued at an average of $1.6 trillion to $2.2 trillion annually. Counterfeiting is the most profitable followed by drug trafficking. But number three on the list may surprise you—illegal logging.
Illegal logging is the third more profitable transnational crime at an estimated annual value of $52 billion to $157 billion per year, according to a report by Global Financial Integrity.
The illegal harvesting of timber results in undercutting prices and lowering the value of U.S. wood products. In addition, forest-dependent communities around the world are negatively impacted by illegal logging in their indigenous lands.
“Governments lose tax revenue and natural capital, there is biodiversity loss, and illegal forest clearing contributes to climate change and greenhouse gas emissions,” Beth Lebow, director of the Wood Identification & Screening Center for the U.S. Forest Service, explained to Forensic.
The Wood Identification & Screening Center (WISC) just found a new home for its forensics lab at Oregon State University’s College of Forestry.
Since the 1900 enactment of the Lacey Act, it’s been against federal law to import illegally obtained wood into the U.S., and importers are required to declare the species and country of origin of the timber they bring into the country. Wood identification technologies are needed to thwart importers who try to skirt the law by intentionally declaring the wrong species, or the wrong place where the timber came from.
WISC scientists use direct analysis in real-time coupled with flight-of-flight mass spectrometry (DART TOF-MS) to identify timber genus and species. Analysis is completed in just a few seconds, and the sample can be as small as a sliver of wood.
“This is a completely new expertise area for the College of Forestry that is highly complementary to a world-class wood science faculty,” Eric Hansen, head of the College of Forestry’s Wood Science & Engineering Department, told Forensic. “This partnership presents all sorts of potential synergies ranging from other wood science faculty utilizing the technology that WISC employs to WISC scientists contributing their knowledge/expertise to more ‘traditional’ wood science research.”
Indeed, one of the reasons WISC relocated to Oregon State from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Laboratory in Ashland was to be in a more collaborative location that allows the facilitation of research partnerships with government, industry and academia, as well as working with university faculty on technology development for improving wood identification.
While maintaining its partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, WISC is also slated to support the efforts of Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security and the Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant Health Inspection System. The partnership with Oregon State will allow the center to expand its reference databases to help local, state and federal law enforcement better confirm the species and origin of wood products.
“For our industry stakeholders, this expertise and technology is a key tool that they can access as part of their efforts to maintain legal and sustainable supply chains,” said Hansen. “Beyond this, we have the infrastructure to facilitate workshops/continuing education activities. The ability to work with undergraduate and graduate students is an important element that makes working on a campus attractive for the WISC team.”
In the short-term, there will be opportunities for graduate students to learn and master the specialized DART TOF-MS technique, a technology they may not have encountered otherwise. In the long-term, Hansen said there is potential for coursework to be developed around forensic wood identification.
“We are excited for WISC to contribute to training the next generation of wood ID experts,” said Lebow.
Photo: Cady Lancaster in the laboratory performing DART TOF-MS analysis. Credit: Oregon State College of Forestry.