THE MAPLE CUTTER | Film by Lynn M. Thomas, Danny Hoffman, Michael Sanderson | Feat. Justin Wilke

In 2018, the Maple Fire burned more than 3000 acres of Washington State’s Olympic National Forest, making national news. Federal prosecutors alleged that a local man, Justin Wilke, started the blaze while removing a beehive from a tree he planned to steal. Justin, prosecutors claimed, is a tree poacher. Late that summer night, Justin was in pursuit of figured Big Leaf Maple, a rare wood coveted by guitar makers, when things went horribly wrong. The Maple Cutter explores Justin’s complex relationship with the woods and the equally complex way that Justin explains that relationship – to the world and to himself. Justin’s is a story of addiction, nostalgia, nature, and work in rural America. It is a story about how people love and live through forests today.

CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction & title cards
01:08 - Introduction to Justin Wilke
03:54 - Background to the Maple Fire and to maple tree poaching
07:31 - Lana Massa explains the appeal of poaching
08:11 - Justin Wilke's background and relationship to logging
11:30 - Ron Frantz demonstrates figured wood
12:38 - Steve McMinn explains figured maple in guitars
14:15 - Tom French explains tree poaching and logging
15:31 - Justin Wilke on finding figure in maples
17:20 - Carlos Santana and the rise in maple poaching
18:50 - Anne Minden on maple theft
21:12 - Justin Wilke on the 2018 theft and fire
25:34 - Poverty and drug use on the Olympic Peninsula
26:03 - Anne Minden on rural crime
27:25 - Justin Wilke on meth and tree poaching
28:45 - Justin Wilke demonstrates figure in maple
29:15 - The charges against Justin Wilke
35:24 - Justin Wilke reflects on poaching
38:53 - The verdict in Justin Wilke's trial
41:31 - Final reflections on Justin Wilke's story
43:53 - Credits and end title cards

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