...isn't a lot of help with these things. "Do not needlessly multiply complexity"...

The usual quotidian explanation is that humans faked them. The one virtue of that conjecture, in terms of Occam's razor, is that you don't have to postulate additional beings beyond humans. But that's about as far as you get, becaue then you have to come up with the method used by humans to do it.

No sawdust?

How do you cut down a thousand saplings and leave no sawdust or wood chips? That's where you start having to multiply complexity. A big vacuum cleaner? Not just a leaf blower, because that would still leave the detritus somewhere nearby. No footprints--did the fakers use a helicopter? A gigantic cherry-picker from a nearby road?

Then there's the time and effort involved. The report notes that the cuts don't look sawn, ruling out a power tool like a chain-saw. Somebody used a machete or pruning shears on a thousand saplings? A herd of beavers? Are beavers indigenous to the area? Do beavers chomp in straight lines, and make T intersections?

It's not clear from the report or pictures whether the cut saplings remain on the site. Some closeup photos show saplings on the ground. But the larger-scale photo doesn't show the mass of material you'd expect, judging by the adjacent trees still standing. Postulating ways to remove the cut saplings layers on more complexity.

Heaven help me, but a phaser beam cutting a nice straight swath, and a teleportation device to remove the saplings and detritus, actually sounds simpler. On the one hand you have a complicated and time consuming hoax using known technology; on the other you have a simple process that would take a few minutes using science fiction technology.

I don't know what did it, Lindy. It's a mystery...and I enjoy a good mystery. Thanks for posting this!

(You know what would be a nice change of pace from the usual knee-jerk ridicule of reports like this? Let's harness the collective brainpower of the Zoners and come up with a way for humans to fake this, producing a result that conforms with all the characteristics described using known technology, available in rural Missouri.)

((Of course, just because we come up with a way for humans to do it, doesn't prove that humans did it...;-() ))