This past week two trees have been cut down and stolen from Cornell Plantations property.
The first discovery came on Thursday, Dec. 4, when a 12-year old 18-foot white spruce was noticed missing. Plantations gardener Phil Syphrit was cited in an Ithaca Journal report stating that this tree is worth $2000. Then just this past Tuesday Plantations workers noticed a 4-foot red cedar was missing too.
Cornell Plantations’ trees are considered part of an open-air laboratory and a “living museum” according to the site’s website and employees. From their website:
Would you steal a Picasso from the Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University? If your answer is no, then you shouldn’t steal a tree or even a plant from Cornell Plantations.
According to Plantations officials, these types of thefts are not uncommon during the holiday season. There is a $200 reward for anyone who provides information leading police to the tree thieves.
“Our highest ideal as a society is enshrined in the Constitution, the 14th Amendment, and federal, state and local law, which is you do not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity. And we are seeing that unfortunately, under the concept of equity, that there is outright discrimination on the basis of race.”
