'Gresham Lumberjack' goes into hibernation
An infamous suspect who was cutting hundreds of trees along the Springwater Corridor Trail in Gresham has seemingly gone dormant.
The city has seen fewer felled trees from the "Gresham Lumberjack" in recent months, who had been chopping down greenery of various sizes since August 2021. Much of the natural vandalism was committed under the cover of night on the segment of trail between the Seventh Street Bridge and Towle Avenue. Despite efforts from city parks crews and the Gresham Police Department, no arrests or citations were made in connection to the cuttings.
To date the unidentified suspect had chopped down nearly 800 trees in Gresham, some as tall as 60-80 feet. There were also damaged shrubs and bushes. That all equated to hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, and a significant setback to the long-term restoration efforts along Johnson Creek.
“It appears this person is focusing on cutting many trees all at once, so we have lulls between big cuttings as they try and find a new spot to hit,” said Mike Wallace, Gresham’s natural resources ecologist, who was the lead of a task force dedicated to stopping the damage.
The suspect has no obvious motive — no wood was taken and the damage was not linked to camping or constructing homeless shelters.
With cutting slowed in recent months there is no longer an active search for a suspect. If it picks back up again in the spring, Gresham plans to contract with a private security firm to monitor live cameras placed in hot spots.
Preschool robbed
A downtown Gresham preschool is dealing with the headache of a holiday burglary as the post-Thanksgiving glow was marred by a busted-open shed and stolen playground equipment.
Molly Loveland, the owner and operator of Little Harvard Learning Center, 135 N.W. Miller Ave., noticed the school's storage shed had been looted after returning from Thanksgiving break. Taken were carpet shampoo, a weed eater, camcorder, and brand new play equipment.
"Having these items stolen from us really hurts our center," Loveland said. "We were looking forward to seeing the kids enjoy their new playground equipment."
Gresham Police are investigating the break-in as a second-degree burglary. The unknown suspects took down the security camera and removed the shed door.
“This unplanned expense really puts a damper on our holiday plans as well as our morale in general, any donations will be used to replace our items and to provide supplies and toys to the children we serve here at Little Harvard,” Loveland said.
Loveland is hoping the community can help cover the loss so the school and students wont feel that financial pinch. Learn more and donate at bit.ly/3VWcF7k 
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