In this gripping account of the billion-dollar black market for timber, Lyndsie Bourgon traces three poaching cases, introducing us to tree poachers, law enforcement officers, forensic wood specialists, the enigmatic residents of former logging communities, environmental activists, international timber cartels, and Indigenous communities. Though old-growth trees are invaluable and irreplaceable for both humans and wildlife, the morality of tree poaching is not as simple as we might think. Stealing trees is a form of deeply rooted protest and a side effect of environmental protection efforts that ignore communities uprooted or marginalized when park boundaries are drawn. As Bourgon discovers, excluding working-class and rural communities in the preservation of these awe-inducing ecosystems can lead to catastrophic results. Featuring deep investigative reporting, fascinating characters, logging history, political analysis, and cutting-edge tree science, Tree Thieves takes readers on a thrilling journey into the intrigue, crime, and astonishing complexity hidden beneath the forest canopy.