Authorities in Gresham, a suburb of Portland, Oregon, are trying to catch the infamous “Gresham Lumberjack”, a person who is suspected to have cut down around 700 trees in the area for no apparent reason.
A special task force put together by Gresham Police and the Parks & Recreations has been scouring thousands of photos of a forest in Gresham, looking for clues that could help them identify and finally catch the Gresham Lumberjack. The elusive ‘tree serial killer’ has been felling trees for over a year now, and seems to be getting bolder. Unfortunately, so far, all they know is that the culprit seems to prefer trees along a segment of the trail between the Seventh Street Bridge and Towle Avenue, and cutting them with a hand saw or a bow saw.
Photo: Erwin Voortman/Unsplash
“We found a lot of blades that have been pinched in the actual wood itself and saw the individual just has more blades on hand so they just keep cutting,” Joe Walsh, Gresham P&R Manager, said. “A lot of times a bow saw can get through this in about 5-10 minutes. It’s pretty quick, these are sharp blades. This is somebody that comes in quick but the individuals also spending hours in the field cutting these trees.”
City crews first noticed the handiwork of the Gresham Lumberjack back in August of 2021, but they have yet to catch him/her in the act or at least get any leads on their identity. Over the past thirteen months, the tree serial killer is estimated to have cut down between 500 and 750 healthy trees, leaving their otherwise healthy trunks right where they fell.
Gresham authorities have set up hidden cameras along the area the mysterious lumberjack seems to prefer, but so far they have been unable to identify them. Stranger still is the fact that the culprit doesn’t seem to have any motive. No wood has ever been taken, and the trees seem to be cut randomly.
Apart from the hundreds of destroyed trees, the Gresham Lumberjack is also responsible for destroying an “untold” number of shrubs and bushes, which equates to hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. And despite the spotlight being on them in the media, the mysterious criminal appears to be getting bolder, cutting bigger and healthier trees.
“I think it’s horrible,” one local man said. “People are cutting down live healthy trees and we’re trying to plant trees down here to stop erosion and unfortunately somebody’s just doing it for the fun of it it’s terrible.”
