re: Occam's razor
A soft green sapling can be cut easily with pruning sheers- all the way up to the size of a womand fore-arm- and it will leave no chips and certainly no 'sawdust'. Typically, when you cut young wood, or even older wood at certain times of year, you don't get 'sawdust'. If you use a chainsaw and a mature tree, for sure you get some shavings.
Also a very sharp axe or a scythe will cleanly cut through a sapling with one whack.
Its not that hard, certainly not impossible for two or three folks with pruning sheers to do the damage we see here.
Davin L.