Oregon Public Broadcasting

State Attorney General John Kroger speaks at a conference Thursday about a rise in fraud during the recession.

Kroger’s speech is part of an anti-fraud conference in Springfield.

Thursday and Friday, Central Oregon correspondent Ethan Lindsey will report on the rise of fraud in this economy.

First, he looks at how old scams in the timber industry are making a comeback.

It’s sure a tough time to be in the timber business.

Sara Leiman: “I mean, the way things are is probably the worst ever, in my memory.”

Sara Leiman is the owner of a small family forest.

Sara Leiman: “Timber prices, log prices, wood, lumber. It’s all in dumps.”

She makes money by cutting trees, planting new ones, and managing the forest’s growth.

In fact, right now, some types of wood are technically worthless – absolutely no one will buy them.

The abysmal market has an added downside – it’s brought out the scam artists and opportunists.

Sara Leiman: “I think there are bottomfeeders. And I don’t mean that in a bad way at all. It’s just that when the prices are down, there are opportunities. It’s just like the stock market, you know, you want to buy Ford Motor Company, you better do it now, right?”

In this situation, predatory loggers look to buy from absentee and vulnerable landowners who need money now.

Their scams work in different ways, too.

Some offer to help thin your forests – and then they cut down the big trees as well as the small ones.

Leiman says a lot of times, elderly land owners are targeted.

Sara Leiman: “There’s sort of a whole generation of landowners that they’re getting on in years now. And now there’s a lot of widows, and sometimes the family lives far away. And there’s mom, having some needs in her old age.”

Leiman’s even gotten some letters in the mail from loggers and others.

Industry newspapers and web sites have seen an uptick in ads offering ‘great prices’ to come chop and sell your wood for you.

David Morman works with the Oregon Department of Forestry.

He says most loggers are honorable, but this economy brings out people like scam artists.

David Morman: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And I think particularly it’s important in this market, for folks to realize that these markets do rebound. Timber prices will be higher in the future.”

That means that when the price of wood goes back up, loggers offering long-term deals will be able to sell timber  for far more than they paid.

Morman worked on a $15 million forestry fraud in the 1990s in Klamath County.

In that case, hundreds of landowners received postcards advertising the free removal of dead and dying timber from their lots.

But the logger would come in and sometimes clear-cut healthy trees.

Forest landowners, like Sara Leiman, say vigilance is always required.

Sara Leiman: “Sometimes we start getting more offers for our timber when things turn around a little bit, and prices have gone up. But the landowner doesn’t necessarily have the knowledge about how much it’s gone up.”

The Oregon Department of Forestry and Oregon State University’s extension office both offer classes and other help.

Leiman says she’s learned the best way to fight back against these scams is education and information.

Online:

The  OSU Forestry and Natural Resources Extension Program conducts educational programs for forest landowners, and publishes newsletters and forest-related publications for woodland owners.
http://www.cof.orst.edu/cof/extended/extserv/
 
OSU Extension Forestry flagship program, Master Woodland Manager program. Trains local cadres of volunteers to work within their communities, similar to the Master Gardener training.
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/mwm/
 
ODF Private Forests website. Contact a Stewardship forester who will walk your property, answer questions, get log price information, find a consultant, and get help with taxes.
http://egov.oregon.gov/ODF/PRIVATE_FORESTS/private_forests.shtml
 
Ties to the Land -- Estate planning resources for family forestland owners.
http://www.familybusinessonline.org/resources/ttl/home.htm