of the century if nothing is done to stop bands of thieves stealing the trees for profit.

The stark warning came yesterday from Government conservation officer Dr.

David Wingate, speaking on behalf of the Audubon Society and National Trust.

He was furious over the continued butchery of cedar trees in Tom Moore's "jungle'', other woodlands and private estates.

Their scarcity and the fact they produce a top quality timber superior to Virginia cedar was fuelling a booming black market for the trees, Dr. Wingate said.

Armed with chain-saws, thieves were going into private gardens and woodland areas -- sometimes in broad daylight -- and carelessly hacking down cedars, leaving the surrounding area "trashed''.

"It's an ongoing problem that is happening day-in and day-out throughout the week,'' parks and reserves foreman Mr. Steven DeSilva said. "The evidence we have suggests it goes on heavily and there's no sign of letting up.'' So many cedars had been "ripped off'' parks and gardens that Dr. Wingate believed "at least half'' of the cedar works being sold locally were made from stolen wood.

Walsingham and Blue Hole Hill reserves had suffered the theft of more than $40,000 worth of cedars in the last few years, he said.

So brazen were thieves in one case that they blocked off a road and, pretending to be workmen, held up traffic while they chopped down cedars. A suspicious motorist had called Police, Dr. Wingate said.

"Not only are they stealing dead cedars, but they are taking down live trees and using noisy chain saws that can be heard around the neighbourhood.'' Dr. Wingate called for much harsher penalties for cedar thieves and a crackdown on laws governing local saw mills. The roughly five saw mills in Bermuda were the only facilities for readying cedar for sale to wood carvers and furniture makers, he noted. Thus, it would help greatly if they were required to demand written authorisation for a cedar sale and proof of its origin, he said.

He noted that some saw mills had said they could not be held responsible for the thefts because they had no way of knowing if cedars were stolen.

Stiffer fines and prison terms would serve to deter thieves, he said.

Conservationists had proposed such legislative changes to Government, he said.

After the 1940s scale epidemic only four percent of Bermuda's cedar trees remained alive.

Dead cedars continue to stand on private and public properties because the timber is so durable, Dr. Wingate noted. From time to time property owners chose to get rid of their dead cedars and sell them to saw mills, which they were entitled to do, he said.

But "they are gradually being harvested and not replaced. It's like harvesting a non-renewable resource. It takes 25 years to produce a four-by-four cedar log.'' On top of that, the cedar theft problem, which has been going on for decades, had been exacerbated in the last few years due to the recession.

"It's like a latter day gold rush,'' he said. "It has attracted people out for a quick buck -- there are a lot of people involved in this.'' One square foot of one-inch thick cedar currently fetches $26 at saw mills.

"There are some dead cedars around that are worth between $3,000 and $4,000,'' he said. Some owners of large estates had suffered the thefts of "tens of thousands of dollars'' worth of cedars.

Cedars in the national parks and nature reserves belonged to the public and were for their enjoyment. "These thieves are stealing from the public,'' he said.

"And it is a conceivable possibility that the cedars could all be gone before the end of the century if people are allowed to continue to get away with stealing them.

"There will be a complete degradation of the cedar tree landscape. And the loss will be greater than their aesthetic value.'' The extremely wind resistant and sturdy cedars were vital to the Bermuda environment, he said. They protected other less flexible trees and plants from wind and storm damage.

And in Walsingham, cedars were the only trees in which herons would nest. He knew of one theft where a heron nest had been left laying in pieces near the stump.

People had been prosecuted in the past -- such as the Paget Marsh case -- and fined relatively small amounts, he said. And there was a case pending in the Magistrates' Court.

But conservationists could not possibly police all the parks, nature reserves and woodlands of Bermuda, so many got away.

Those prosecuted had been caught red-handed by members of the public or park rangers, who have conducted stake-outs in woodlands to catch thieves.

BUTCHERED -- Mr. Steven DeSilva, foreman of the Island's nature reserves and protected areas, casts a sad eye over two cedar tree stumps on the Walsingham nature reserve. It is estimated that thieves have got away with some $40,000 worth of cedars from the area in the last two years.