Government Conservation Officer Jeremy Madeiros yesterday called on the community to stop cutting down live cedar trees ? warning it could lead to the Bermuda endemic species' extinction.

Mr. Madeiros was speaking after learned that live cedars ? some more than 25 feet tall ? were cut down at a construction site in Smith's Parish.

"Obviously, it has always been a rule of thumb not to cut down live cedars because it takes a whole human lifetime for them to grow to any great size," Mr. Madeiros said.

"They are worth a lot more than the money for the timber," he added. "They take 100 years to grow, but can be cut down in five minutes because of someone's short-sighted stupidity."

Outraged eyewitnesses contacted last Friday when they saw three mature cedars chopped down in front of a construction site on Gilbert Hill in Smith's.

"I was working next door and there were three mature trees," said a caller, who refused to give his name. "They must have been grown after the blight. They were fully grown, about 25 to 30 feet tall."

"The circumference was quite wide," the caller added. "I saw a guy up in the tree branches. I knew they were doing some renovation work and thought they were going to cut a few branches off. But the next thing I know, the whole thing was down. I started saying to the guys I was working with that it could not have been a cedar tree. They cut them down so blatantly, I could not believe it.

"I thought it must be Virginia cedar. But when I rode down the hill after I finished work, I could smell the cut cedar and I knew it was a Bermuda cedar tree."

The man also reported the incident to Police and the National Trust.

Police arrived a few minutes later and took statements from the people who had done the cutting, he said, and Trust representatives followed and took samples from the remains of the trees.

"They cut it up, and must have taken it down to get planked," the caller said. "They stripped them quick but the stumps are still there. The amount that they would get for that lumber would easily pay for their fine. I think they should throw the book at those guys, for their audacity."

But despite the ire cutting cedars often brings out in the community, unless the trees are in parkland, conservation areas or are specially protected, it is legal to cut them down, was told, and the cutters would not face any fine.

Director of Parks Candy Foggo said it is illegal to cut down a cedar tree in a public park but not on someone's personal property, provided that the owner gives their permission.

"It's not illegal unless it is in a public park or if it is done without permission," she said. "But it is illegal to cut down a tree in a zoned conservation area."

Ms Foggo said property owners may also apply for tree preservation orders (TPO) from the Department of Planning to protect the endemic trees.

Planning officials said there are no woodland conservation zones around Gilbert Hill, and to their knowledge the trees on the site were not protected by TPOs.

Director of Planning Rudolph Hollis said that as far as he knew the "only legislation pertaining to cedar trees was an old one that referred to the retention of cedar trees and the need to build ships".

"The law was written to protect smaller trees from being cut down until maturity," Mr. Hollis said. "Nothing less than six inches could be cut down. The cedars were turned into lumber for ships. The Bermuda National Trust actually gave me a copy of the legislation."

While the action of cutting down cedars is legal, it is strongly discouraged, he said.

"It's not something we publicise," said Mr. Hollis. "Cedars are endemic. But unless they are covered by a tree protection order, or are in a woodland conservation area, there is nothing to protect them. There is a general feeling in Bermuda that cedars are protected trees but it a belief based from historical times."

When asked whether it was time to place more legal protection on Bermuda cedars, Mr. Hollis said that there needed to a basis upon which to draft the law.

"Put it in law?" he asked. "I don't know about that. There needs to be a basis for it. In the 1950s, during the blight, that would have been the time to put it into law. I don't know what the survival rate is today, but cedars are certainly more plentiful."

But the Bermuda cedars remain fragile, said Mr. Madeiros and any progress made can be easily undone with wanton cutting.

"We almost lost the cedars in the 1940s, so there are not that many mature cedars out there," Mr. Madeiros warned. "They are still a threatened species. There has been some recovery from deliberate replanting.

"If people keep cutting up live cedars in their front garden we can never expect the cedar to make a recovery. They provide the seeds and berries from which all young cedars grow.

"You see a lot of young cedars trying to pop-up, but they are under a lot of threat from invasive species like Mexican Pepper, for example.

"So, it is proving very difficult for cedars to reforest naturally. We need more of the larger trees to be protected and kept."

Mr. Madeiros urged the community to protect Bermuda cedar rather than exploit it.

"I would think long and hard before culling any mature tree," he said. "They provide shade and wind protection to your property. They also enhance the value of the property.

"You can sell your house for more because of their beautiful landscape value."