When federal agents searched the Toano headquarters of Lumber Liquidators on Sept. 26, they did so for tigers half a world away.
Lumber that federal agents believe was illegally harvested from the habitat of the endangered Siberian Tiger, also known as the Amur Tiger, was revealed to be the reason for the search. The tiger makes its home in the far southeastern tip of Russia, in a heavily wooded region that straddles the borders of China and North Korea near the Russian city of Vladivostok.
Alexander von Bismarck, the executive director of the Environmental Investigation Agency who is familiar with efforts to curtail illegal logging in that area, said there is a massive network of manufacturing facilities in China across the border from the forests where the last tigers — as few as 450 remain in the world — occupy a unique ecosystem that enables their survival.
The presence of those factories incentivizes illegal logging, as gathering the wood is as simple as slipping over the lengthy and rural border between the two nations, he said.
“Chinese factories are ultimately fueled by our demand for often tragically cheap products,” von Bismarck said. “That’s what’s driving logging throughout the area.”
The tiger once roamed the forests of northeastern China, however extensive logging has laid waste to the forests on the Chinese side of the ecosystem, which von Bismarck said is a highly unique area that enables the tiger to survive. Many of the trees in that forest are old, meaning they are tall and drop enough nuts and fruit to the ground to provide subsistence for the smaller animals that provide food for the tiger. Without the small trees, the animals that depend on them for food are unable to find enough to eat during the ferocious winters that cake the region in snow and ice.
Those trees are an appealing target to loggers, as they are a source of high quality oak, linden and numerous other types of wood that fetch value on the open market. The rural forest is a large area, where brutal winters and the dwindling presence of Russian law enforcement since the collapse of the Soviet Union have created an appealing target.
Laws on the books in Russia criminalize the harvesting of wood in the forest, which makes it illegal to import the wood to the U.S. due to the Lacey Act. That law, originally passed in 1900, was amended in 2008 to address several items, including the criminalization of the importation of illegally harvested wood.
The illegal importation of wood also has a domestic effect, von Bismarck said. Domestic producers of lumber that are in line with laws and regulations are often undercut by international companies and suppliers that don’t follow the law. That has a tangible effect on local economies, where employers can’t compete with the pricing of illegally harvested wood.
According to Lumber Liquidators’ website, the company says it “offers flooring brands that practice responsible harvesting.”
A page in the FAQ section of the company’s website pertaining to compliance with the Lacey Act says “Lumber Liquidators is committed to responsible business practices as a central operating philosophy of our company. To that end, our lumber sourcing complies with U.S. laws and regulations including the Lacey Act, which prohibits the illegal trade of wildlife, fish, and plants, including lumber.” That page goes on to say the company’s supplier’s mills and forests are assessed by Lumber Liquidators to ensure compliance.
“In the past, we have stopped using certain suppliers because we were not satisfied with the credibility of their responses to detailed questions about compliance issues and we regularly decline to pursue business with potential new suppliers that cannot provide evidence of compliance with applicable laws and regulations,” the website said.
Though the federal agencies involved in the search have all declined to reveal the reason for the search, the reason was made public by a man who found the operation plan detailing the mission to federal agents in the parking lot of a Henrico County Target where agents staged for the operation.
That man gave the plan to WWBT-12, the Richmond NBC affiliate. According to their reporting, officers from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s Homeland Security Investigations department, along with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted the search to look for emails and other documents that would show the officers of the company and personnel in China are aware of the illegal harvest alleged by the agencies.
A Department of Justice spokesperson told WYDaily last week no charges have been filed against Lumber Liquidators. Due to the federal government shutdown, a DoJ spokesperson was not available to comment on the current status of the case, as members of that office have been furloughed. Calls to Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were also not returned.
Lumber Liquidators issued a statement Sept. 27 saying the action by federal authorities relates to “the importation of certain of the Company’s wood flooring products.” The release went on to say “The Company takes its sourcing and compliance very seriously, and is cooperating with authorities to provide them with requested information.”
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