this is a guitar back made out of dalrsia nigra-- brazilian rosewood--and it's considered to be one of the most endangered species of trees in the world. what i discovered in my early research is that illegal logging is kind of the monster in the closet that nobody talks about or even knows about. and i think that's an issue that really needs to be tackled. i am a wood identification technology specialist and analytical chemist for the u.s. forest service. i also help build the forensic spectra of trees database that we house here at the lab. goddard: our laboratory is the only full-service crime l for wildlife in the world. trees as a forest represent a habitat. when criminals go in and clear-cut a forest, they not only take down trees, but the animals that live in that habitat may go to extinction. like any other police crime lab, we examine evidence and, in a triangular fashion, we attempt to link suspect, victim, and crime scene with that evidence. lancaster: if you look at data provided by wwf, global witness, and eia, you find that not only are we going into a record-breaki year