Environment: The Tree Rustlers

In McHenry, Ill., a gentleman farmer reported that at least four had been stolen. A Monticello, Ill., landowner found that 20 had been taken from her property overnight. In Columbus, Ohio, citizens discovered that five were missing from a city park. The objects that are becoming increasingly attractive to Midwestern thieves are not the underworld's usual stock in trade. They are black walnut trees, which are disappearing at an alarming rate from the north-central forests of the U.S., where most of them grow. In many places where the best of the giant shade trees once stood, beautifying landscapes in Ohio,...