Douglas Reitano guilty of felling rare red gum trees for firewood
His Facebook ad said his son wanted to sell some firewood to “purchase a couple of guns”. But the type of wood was enough to raise the suspicions of officers from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.
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A man has been fined $30,000 for cutting down trees in a national park before trying to sell them as firewood on Facebook.
Douglas Reitano was found guilty of two counts of damaging and removing vegetation in a national park after he cut down river red gums with a chainsaw.
The NSW Land and Environment Court heard footage from remote sensing surveillance cameras showed Mr Reitano visiting Murrumbidgee Valley National Park up to three times a day.
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The court also heard Mr Reitano sold red gum “firewood” on the Griffith Buy, Swap, Sell, Give Away Facebook page.
Staff from the former NSW Office of Environment and Heritage told the court that the red gums were important habitat for threatened and species who lived in the tree hollows in what was a predominantly cleared landscape.
While it was unclear how many trees Mr Reitano had felled, staff claimed they saw 20 red gum stumps during one inspection of an area of the park.
Mr Reitano said the Facebook advertisement was for his son who wanted to sell some wood to “purchase a couple of guns”.
He claimed “a lot” of people “go in and out there” with the park not really “policed” that much.
While pleading not guilty to the charges, he declared he had taken wood “back in the day” but denied he had recently.
During a sentencing hearing last week, Justice John Robson said it was clear the harm to the environment caused by Mr Reitano was “substantial”.
“Mr Reitano could and should have ensured that he only took timber from areas where such activity was permitted,” he said.
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