Illegal logging thrives in Mexico City’s forest-covered boroughs, as locals strive to plant trees

By MARIA VERZA
Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) — In the forest-covered mountains of Mexico City a brigade of farmers and forest rangers plant inches-high pine saplings in a recently cut stand of trees, even as the sound of chainsaws rings out nearby. Illegal logging has taken a huge toll in recent years in the forest-covered southern boroughs of Mexico City, home of 9 million inhabitants. “They have finished off the woods,” says Alfredo Gutiérrez, a resident of San Miguel Topilejo. The extent of the devastation is astonishing. Why the illegal tree cutting has gotten so bad so fast is a matter of debate, but some of the local farm communities think that it is because organized crime gangs have moved into the illegal logging business.