Man owes county $80,000 for Lion’s Den trees

A Town of Grafton man has agreed to pay $80,000 in restitution to replace 104 trees he cut down in Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve so he could have a “sliver”
of a view of Lake Michigan from his house.

Of the restitution amount, the Ozaukee County Planning and Parks Department will receive $72,800, half in 2021 and half in 2022, according to county documents.

According to a criminal complaint filed in August 2020 in Ozaukee County Circuit Court, James R. Gore, 35, cut down about 25 trees in the preserve in January 2020. A Parks Department Superintendent told Ozaukee County Sheriff’s deputies that he suspected the culprit was Gore because he had cut down numerous trees in January 2019 in the preserve.

Charges were not pursued in 2019, however, because Gore had paid for the damage.

The newly cut trees were east of those that had been cut down previously, opening the view of Lake Michigan from his house at 1776 Lake Shore Road.

The cutting extended about 300 feet and many of the trees that had been cut down had been thrown over the lake bluff edge, the criminal complaint says.

When Gore was interviewed by investigators, he denied cutting down the trees and said he suspected it had been done by four people in a white truck who told him they had permission to cut down the trees.

Investigators, however, found skid steer tracks on the site of the cutting and were able to match them to a skid steer owned by Gore.

Gore then recanted his story, which he had repeated several times, and admitted that he had cut down the trees “so he could see a ‘sliver’ of Lake Michigan” and that he did it at night during a snowstorm so he would not be seen, the complaint says.

In December, Gore pleaded guilty to one felony charge of criminal damage to property and was sentenced to 12 months in the Ozaukee County Jail.

A midemeanor charge of obstructing an officer was dismissed.