PORT ANGELES — A new Discovery Channel program, “Dark Woods Justice,” will peel back the bark on forest poaching and other issues of the Olympic Peninsula when it premieres at 10 p.m. Tuesday night.
“Dark Woods Justice” focuses on investigations by sheriff’s deputies from Jefferson and Mason counties.
Most of their investigations in the show, said Discovery Channel’s Samantha Coria, center around illicit natural resource thefts.
The black market for exotic hardwoods, she said in a news release, is so rich that poachers risk prison time and their lives to steal from both public and private forests.
“Known for their intricate pattern of wood, trees like the Western Big Leaf Maple bring in millions,” said the television channel in the release.
The dwindling supply has triggered a black market — one that also spurs a variety of criminal behavior.
“The story line shows that it fuels a lot of criminal stuff,” said Coria. “Bad things.”
Deputies on the show also pursue investigations into drug sales and a murder, said Coria.
During the course of the first season, which was filmed on the Peninsula between August 2015 and April 2016, deputies take part in an active murder investigation, according to Coria.
The story line details a human body that has been hidden in the woods of the Olympic Mountains.
“I’m just the guy who gave permission,” said Jefferson County Sheriff Dave Stanko.
“But I endorsed it and support it. It’s a very well done reality show,” Stanko said.
The issues the show portrays are real, including tree poaching, Stanko said.
Jefferson County has only two resident deputies on the West End and three on the east, according to the sheriff.
Poachers know that, said Stanko, so “there’s a pretty good chance they can get away with it.”
He added that as the show portrays, wood poaching brings other problems to his county, like narcotic drug possession and sales.
“There are methamphetamine and drug labs down there,” said Stanko, as well as wood theft.
Heroin possession also is becoming an increasing problem, although not yet as big an issue as it is in Clallam County, he said.
A Seattle company, PSG Films, created the show for Discovery Channel.
Among its credits, PSG has created a number of other reality-style shows, such as “Alaska State Troopers” and “Bounty Hunters” for the National Geographic Channel.
PSG representatives could not be reached for comment.
Discovery Channel has ordered six episodes for the first season of “Dark Woods,” Coria said.
The cable channel will see how the show performs in its first season and then make a decision about a second, she said.
The company was not involved in another famous Olympic Peninsula-based show, “The Legend of Mick Dodge,” that played for two seasons on the National Geographic Channel.
In that show, Dodge played a woodland philosopher and survivalist living in the forest near Forks. “Mick Dodge” had 20 episodes. The show ended in October 2014.
Another show, “Ax Men,” completed nine seasons on the History Channel this year. Portions of that logging reality show was filmed on the Olympic Peninsula.
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Assistant Managing Editor Mark Swanson can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55450, or mswanson@peninsuladailynews.com.
