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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 2019)
A3 THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2019 Investigators fi nd Oregon link to illegal rainforest logging Eugene businessman secretly recorded By TONY SCHICK, CONRAD WILSON and DAVID STEVES Oregon Public Broadcasting Jim Green wanted his prospective business part- ners to know he wasn’t all that concerned with where they cut down the tropical hardwood that would even- tually become veneer siding on homes across the United States. “I’m not worried that you’re stealing from a national park. I don’t care,” he said during a 2017 meet- ing. What mattered to Green was that he had paperwork — even if bribery or graft was involved — indicating that everything was above board. As it turns out, Green, a Eugene businessman and hardwood importer, wasn’t talking with potential busi- ness collaborators; he was revealing his secrets to an environmental watchdog group’s undercover inves- tigators, who were surrep- titiously recording him on video. Those video recordings, along with other investiga- tive materials, have been shared with federal offi cials, who are conducting an inves- tigation of possible illegali- ties involving west Central African rainforest poaching, black market trading, and the roles played by Northwest businesses. On Monday, the watch- dog group behind the under- cover operation, Environ- mental Investigation Agency, released that video and the rest of its fi ndings to the public. Among its allegations: Timber harvested ille- gally from African rain- forests is being sold in the U.S. through Pacifi c North- west companies and others are doing the same thing to get hardwood to customers throughout Europe. The Environmental Investigation Agency , a non- governmental organization based in Washington, D.C., spent four years investigat- ing logging in the Repub- lic of Congo and Gabon. The region is home to one of the world’s largest rain- forests, which provides hab- itat for endangered species such as forest elephants and gorillas.U.S. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement con- fi rmed to Oregon Public Broadcasting this month that it had launched an investiga- tion into the illegal import of tropical hardwood and the involvement of North- west companies in moving it through a supply chain to retailers and custom- ers throughout the United States. Undercover investigators and trade data analysts from the Environmental Investi- gation Agency say they have found forestlands obtained illegally, routine overhar- vesting, bribery and other illicit activity in the supply chain of timber known as okoume. That okoume, used in plywood and veneer sid- ing, has been sold domes- tically by Evergreen Hard- woods — an importer based in Mercer Island, Washing- ton — and Oregon’s Rose- burg Forest Products. “We’re talking about sys- temic illegal logging of the forest that has been devel- oped in a way that is under- mining governance in the region, and has been occur- ring over a greater than 10-year period,” said Lisa Handy, director of forest campaigns for the Environ- mental Investigation Agency . At the center of the report is a collection of compa- nies known as the Dejia Group, which according to the Environmental Investi- gation Agency controls an area of 3.7 million acres — 10 times the size of Washing- Environmental Investigation Agency A truckload of tropical hardwood from west Central Africa called okoume. It’s at the center of an environmental watchdog group’s investigation into illegal logging and corruption. ton’s Olympic National Park — inside the Congo basin. It harvests a variety of spe- cies and exports primarily to China. It also sends wood to France, Spain and Belgium. The United States accounts for about 3 per- cent of its business, but the Environmental Investiga- tion Agency’s report states approximately $22 million worth of that illegal timber found its way into the U.S., primarily through Evergreen Hardwoods and a related company called Cornerstone Forest Products. Jim Green, who lives in Eugene, is the owner of Cor- nerstone and a former part owner of Evergreen, where he still works as supply manager. Environmental Investi- gation Agency investiga- tors posed as timber suppli- ers and captured undercover EMERALD HEIGHTS APARTMENTS Astoria, OR video during a meeting with Green. Green declined to com- ment until he had seen EIA’s undercover video of a meet- ing with him . He declined to answer questions sent more than a week ago via email. “FYI, I have not been to Africa in 15 years and have never visited Republic of Congo,” he said via email to Oregon Public Broadcasting . At one point on the tape, which was made available in advance for OPB to review, Green and Environmental Investigation Agency inves- tigators discuss required paperwork under the Lacey Act, a U.S. law prevent- ing trade in illegal plants and wildlife, at which point Green states on the tape that he doesn’t care if the tim- ber was stolen from national parkland, where logging is forbidden. “I just need to have doc- umentation in case some- body accuses me and wants to look,” he says. Green also states on the tape that he understands graft and bribery are part of doing business in the Congo basin. Green also states on the tape that, while he believes ille- gal timber harvesting does occur, it’s not the norm and “everyone’s doing, I think, reasonably a pretty good job at doing everything correctly and legally.” Cornerstone and Ever- green sold okoume to Ore- gon’s Roseburg Forest Products for use in a popu- lar veneer siding, found in stores such as Menard’s and, until 2017, Home Depot. 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