June 8, 2003, 9:46PM Report: Logger's mistake costly Damage almost $700,000 after two city parks stripped By DINA CAPPIELLO Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Environment Writer RESOURCES Illegal clear-cutting in March on 3.9 acres of Brock and Grand River parks caused nearly $700,000 in damages, according to a recent assessment. The breakdown is as follows: Cost of restoring logged areas: Brock Park -- $23,522 Grand River Park -- $10,973 Monetary value of logged timber: Brock Park -- $530,052 Grand River Park -- $111,350 Source: City of Houston Parks and Recreation Department A logger with a bad sense of direction caused nearly $700,000 in damage, plus more pollution and run-off, when he clearcut trees on two city parks earlier this year, according to an independent analysis obtained Sunday by the Houston Chronicle. A Conroe consulting company, in a report to the city of Houston's Parks and Recreation Department, put a price tag on damage done to Brock and Grand River parks in March. That's when logger George Crow stripped 3.9 acres of public forest down to bare soil because he allegedly misread a map. The incident was the first known case of illegal logging in a public park in Houston. The giant 60- to 70-year-old pine and hardwood trees felled -- and left in piles -- were worth $641,402 on the market, the assessment found. To replant the four patches of woodland with loblolly pines and restore soils disturbed by equipment would cost $34,495, according to the analysis by Burditt Associates. But the report also found that less pollution would be removed from the air, more run-off would reach bayous and fewer tons of Earth-warming carbon would be stored because of the nearly 1,000 trees that were torn down. These ecosystem benefits are harder to assign a dollar value. "The value of trees removed from a site extends beyond the cost of tree damage, replacement and the value of the wood products," the report stated. Roksan Okan-Vick, director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department, is drafting a letter to the city attorney asking for full recovery of the costs, according to Marene Gustin, a department spokeswoman. Crow, who has owned Houston-based George Crow Pulpwood and Logging for 15 years, was supposed to be cutting down trees on 134 acres of adjacent private property under attack by the pine bark beetle, according to its owner. In an agreement with Steve Roberts, a Corpus Christi real estate agent who manages the land, Crow agreed to pay $25 per ton for trees that he harvested and sent to the mill. "I don't do anything without a contract," Crow said in an interview in March, after he and two assistants were discovered logging in Brock Park on Houston's northeast side. Roberts said he wasn't responsible for the damages when contacted Sunday. "I don't think it is my responsibility," Roberts said. "I can't police what contractors do beyond the scope of our property." The assessment, which was dated May 21, was paid for by the nonprofit Houston Parks Board Inc. The cost was around $11,000, according to Gustin. In the meantime, Crow continues to log on the private property nearby, Gustin said. Crow was not available for comment on Sunday.
Houston has so many trees and parks to begin with...what an idiot. During the past year the city cut down 2 huge trees in my lawn because they were near the power lines, didn't trim them just chopped them down.
