Crime of the century-old tree
Section of huge pine lifted from DHS parking lot in broad daylight
Durango
High School Assistant Principal Joe Pecorino looks over where a large
portion of a cut ponderosa pine used to rest near the high school before
thieves took one of the three sections.
By Chase Olivarius-Mcallister
Herald staff writer
In
a caper that has shocked locals and dashed Durango High School’s dreams
for an outdoor classroom, a group of thieves has stolen the majority of
an enormous, century-old tree from the school’s parking lot.
The week-old crime – bizarre, boldly executed and cold-blooded – has many in Durango School District 9-R reeling.
“Who would do this, steal from children? Why would anyone take this wood?” asked Julie Popp, district spokeswoman.
The tree, an 80-foot ponderosa pine, is as old as the town of Durango, said city arborist Ron Stoner.
Durango Police Department spokesman Lt. Ray Shupe said it was the first instance of wood theft in Durango.
Last year, a home construction project forced Kim and John Baxter, retirees, to remove the tree from their lot.
The
Baxters said they were anguished about felling the pine, which had
grown on their East Third Avenue property since the 1880s, until Stoner
suggested they donate the enormous trunk to Durango High School, which
was building an outdoor classroom.
Stoner
said in age, girth and height, the tree was incalculably rare. There
are only four or five such trees standing in Durango today.
“I
don’t know, log-wise, what that tree would cost. But the value of the
tree as a historic ponderosa pine alone was in the thousands of
dollars,” he said. “Now, the high school has lost an invaluable means of
building an outdoor classroom that would have combined every element –
the history of the city, the value of the environment, the importance of
trees.”
Paradise, lost
When
the Baxters offered the district their century-old pine, DHS was
delighted. Faculty and students spent months developing a blueprint for
their outdoor classroom, which was to overlook Junction Creek.
Eventually, they settled on a design: the historic ponderosa pine, cut
into smaller sections, would wrap around the classroom along the creek,
offering students seating.
Since
last summer, students have spent hundreds of hours preparing the site,
purging it of weeds and brush and moving in large rocks to anchor the
historic pine seats.
The project was scheduled to be completed this weekend, when the district finally was set to install the historic wood.
But
then, on Dec. 1, sometime in the morning, a crew of men rolled up to
the DHS parking lot – where the tree had been stored – with a truck, a
trailer and a forklift. They took half of the century-old pine, which
had been cut into four sections.
Joe Pecorino, assistant DHS principal, said one DHS teacher had witnessed the heist.
“One
of our teachers – she’s really embarrassed about it now – but she drove
right by them. She said they looked official, so she thought they
worked for the district.”
Premeditated and professional?
The Durango Police Department has no suspects, spokesman Lt. Ray Shupe said.
Given
the audacity of the crime – which was committed in broad daylight, in
full view of passing cars on Main Avenue – many suspect it was a
professional job.
Pecorino said
each section of the tree weighed nearly a ton, “and we had them secured
with snow fencing and a laminated sign saying they were school
property,” he said.
Stoner said the tree sections had likely been pilfered by practiced criminals.
“I
doubt this is their first time doing this,” he said. “These individuals
felt comfortable: They had the specialized equipment, access to a
trailer that was big enough and left in a short amount of time.”
The theft has shaken locals, who cannot believe Durango residents are capable of this kind of venality and opportunism.
Defense
attorney Nick Anesi, who grew up in Durango, said he’d never heard of
banditry this organized taking place within city limits.
“It
makes me angry just hearing about it,” he said. “That wood was supposed
to go to high school students. I guess you never know what people are
capable of.”
Though disturbing to
Durangoans, the crime appears isolated. In an email, Shupe said said
locals needn’t fear for the safety of their trees and wood piles, saying
wood thieving isn’t “a giant issue” in the city, nor is there a
thriving black market for stolen wood in Durango.
But recovering the wood could prove difficult.
Shupe
said when wood is stolen, there is no equivalent to an Amber Alert,
whereby kidnapped children’s faces are disseminated to law-enforcement
agencies throughout the country, nor is there the option of putting a
picture of the missing wood on milk cartons.
But Pecorino said he would recognize the stolen wood anywhere.
“I would know it if I saw it,” he said.
Stoner, likewise, said the tree was physically distinctive.
“I would be able to say with fair certainty whether that was the tree,” he said.
He
said there are no readily available DNA tests that could establish,
beyond a doubt, whether a single wooden board was once part of the
stolen pine, but its markings are unique.
“Ponderosa
pines only develop bark like that when they’re 60, 80 years old, and
this tree was in the 100-plus category,” Stoner said.
He said just as car thieves repaint automobiles, he feared the tree-nappers would strip the wood of its rare bark.
“It
is absolutely a tragedy,” Stoner said. “It was supposed to go to
children – that’s what Kim and John Baxter wanted – for it not to become
firewood or mulch, and we were just moments away from putting the wood
in the classroom. Then someone just saw it as an opportunity and took
advantage of it.”
It would be a
travesty if the historic tree were reduced to wood chips, he said, and
he wouldn’t be surprised if the thieves decided to use it for a pricey
home feature, such as a wooden column.
“Wood of that quality – it has incredible integrity,” he said.
Hope
DHS staff members said they still were dazed by the crime.
Pecorino
said the district, which is facing painful cuts and a $1.6 million
deficit, considered putting out a bounty for information relating to the
wood but decided against it.
“How would we pay for it?” he said.
Though school staff informed police of the theft, so far, they’ve chosen not to file a police report.
Pecorino said the district wasn’t interested in prosecuting the thieves.
“We just want the wood back,” he said. “We would love to be able to give the students their outdoor classroom.”
The Baxters similarly are hopeful the wood will be returned.
“It’s
an old-growth tree, older than the city of Durango,” Kim Baxter said.
“The school was going to use it for a project – what a wonderful thing,
that it had a purpose, an afterlife in which it would continue to serve
the community. I’m hoping these people think twice, that’s what I’m
hoping – that they just physically return it.”
Anesi
said that by returning the wood, unharmed, to the high school parking
lot, the thieves could reduce the adverse legal consequences they
otherwise may face.
“It’s just shocking that some guys would steal wood from the school,” he said. “Wood isn’t that expensive. It’s just crazy.”
Photo by:
Cliff Vancura/Durango Herald
