I'm at a Michigan state park and the people in the site across from me have decided to harvest their firewood from the decorative trees on their site. This is despite several places on the road into the park selling wood.They spent a good 15 minutes tearing down branches.The rangers have gone home for the night, aside for police patrols which I haven't seen in a while.Not worth confronting them directly about it.Overall just sad that people are so selfish to destroy decorative trees like that for a quick camp fire. If they're truely too poor to afford fire wood the park is surrounded by a forest, they could find plenty of dead down wood to burn.

They're lucky they are in Michigan. In Texas state parks, it is a $200 fine for collecting firewood - that includes the dead & down. Not sure the whole reason, other than it would prevent people from taking the not so dead and down.

I'd swing by the office in the a.m. and just give them a head's up. They will just keep doing it if they are not stopped. With a little luck the rangers will give them an ultimatum.

I would hope that there is a camp host you can talk to ? If not talk to the ranger when he comes through. Some people are just idiots. We witnessed a family tent camping and the male figure in the group decided to hack away at a tree. He was belligerent with his family so we didn't approach him but did report it to the camp host. End of problem and they left the next day.

get video post them on you tube show the rangers

Call 911 and report it. Some one will come

Camping neighbor destroying trees? | Good Sam Community

Hiker_01
Explorer
Jul 25, 2015
They're lucky they are in Michigan. In Texas state parks, it is a $200 fine for collecting firewood - that includes the dead & down. Not sure the whole reason, other than it would prevent people from taking the not so dead and down.
Crowe
Explorer
Jul 25, 2015
I'd swing by the office in the a.m. and just give them a head's up. They will just keep doing it if they are not stopped. With a little luck the rangers will give them an ultimatum.
paula_b
Explorer
Jul 25, 2015
I would hope that there is a camp host you can talk to ? If not talk to the ranger when he comes through.

Some people are just idiots. We witnessed a family tent camping and the male figure in the group decided to hack away at a tree. He was belligerent with his family so we didn't approach him but did report it to the camp host. End of problem and they left the next day.
newman_fulltime
Explorer II
Jul 25, 2015
get video post them on you tube show the rangers
darsben
Explorer II
Jul 25, 2015
Call 911 and report it. Some one will come
gbopp
Explorer
Jul 25, 2015
Crowe wrote:
I'd swing by the office in the a.m. and just give them a head's up. They will just keep doing it if they are not stopped. With a little luck the rangers will give them an ultimatum.

x2. Maybe the person is just stupid and doesn't actually know they're doing something wrong?
If they're not told about it, they won't stop.
sch911
Explorer
Jul 25, 2015
It is legal in Michigan to harvest anything that is dead and laying on the ground. If they're plucking live branches then that's against the law. You need to turn them in....
wildtoad
Explorer II
Jul 25, 2015
Was at my local state park last year and a guy with a fifth wheel was backing into a site. Some very thin branches were rubbing his unit but doing no damage. He stopped and decided to break the branches. Restarted, and decided he needed to break some more. I advised him that what he was doing was against state law and his comment was "so is going over the speed limit".
edatlanta
Explorer
Jul 25, 2015
I have to disagree with a previous post about calling 911. 911 is for emergencies and while cutting wood illegally isn't right and I don't like it either, it isn't an emergency.

My ex is a 911 operator and the calls they get that just take up time are amazing. Such as "Can you tell me the time, I can't find my smartphone". Or the one that really takes the cake: There was a severe thunderstorm in progress in the entire area. Power was out in a large part of the area. The call comes in "My power is out, can you send a deputy sheriff out here with some charcoal so my husband won't have to eat a cold meal".
GordonThree
Explorer
Jul 25, 2015
edatlanta wrote:
I have to disagree with a previous post about calling 911. 911 is for emergencies and while cutting wood illegally isn't right and I don't like it either, it isn't an emergency.

I agree, calling the police / 911 about someone defacing trees is a waste of resources. I will mention it to the rangers.