A Camano Island man has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal jail for the theft of 27 old-growth cedar trees from national forest land near Lake Wenatchee.

Kevin John Moran, 49, also was ordered to pay $37,688 restitution for theft of the trees, which averaged 400 to 600 years in age.

U.S. District Court Judge Fred Van Sickle compared theft of the trees to stealing artifacts that can’t be replaced and similar to art. He said stealing the trees was like stealing part of the history of our country and forest lands in the Western lands.

After serving time in jail Moran will participate in three years of supervised probation. The thefts took place in 2004 and Moran entered a guilty plea November 18, 2007.

"These trees simply cannot be replaced in our lifetime,” said Forest Service Special Agent in Charge, Tom Lyons. “Mr. Moran took a portion of the last remaining stand of old growth cedar trees in the lower White River drainage,” Lyons added.

The stolen trees were hauled by truck to mills in Western Washington.

The 20-acre national forest parcel is located adjacent to the White River, about one half mile from Lake Wenatchee on the Wenatchee River Ranger District of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.