Chvymn99's thread brought back a question I've had in my head for sometime now. When is it ok to stop and cut a downed tree or take a pile of cut wood? Especially when you live in a very high density state like RI, I often wonder where a homeowner's rights stop and end when it comes to storm dropped trees. Then there are other times when a tree came down during a storm on the edge of the road where no houses are nearby. Is it acceptable to go and cut it up for firewood?
While I don't have a definitive answer, I have known a man who used to collect firewood in this manner. He claimed that the County/Township owned 10-15 of right of way on either side of the road and therefore he could cut deadfalls laying within. I have no idea if this is in any way valid or not. This man is quite the individual. This is also in a fairly rural area. Maybe contact your local government and inquire. They may see you cutting crap out of their ditches as beneficial. They should also be able to give you a concrete answer.
Permission is always first on my mind. I've lost quite a few scrounges to the word "no". But thats life and I'm still alive. As far as taking a saw in, I'd definitely want permission.
I agree, especially if there is an obvious house in eyeshot. The least I would do would be to call the local county hiway department to inquire because if any of the branches came in contact with the roadway or are or have been partially blocking it, they are usually responsible for clearing it. The thought that runs through my head first is if I lived there what would I think if a guy just stopped and started cutting.....
Where my property is, the state has a right of way on my property to install and maintain a road. They have done that and a state road does exist but I do own to the center of the road more or less. The road does not follow the property line exactly so I may own a foot more at some points and a foot less at others. They do not own that property but can prevent me installing things or planting trees that interfere with their use of my land but it is still my land and they do not own my resources that happen to be on it. On that same property there is a utility right of way for a power line that goes through. Again the utility has the right to clear away obstructions within 20 feet of the power pole base but they do not own any wood that they cut, I do. When I planted my wood lot I was quite careful to keep all stems outside of the utility ROW, so if they cut a stem they will be in law suit city. If they trim back branches that are encroaching on the power lines that is another story. If you come by and ask a road crew or a utility trimming crew if you can have my wood that they are cutting, they can tell you they don't care but that does not give you permission to remove anything from my property. All they own is the right to do needed maintenance within a very limited part of the road front so why would they care what you do? They don't own it. The whole idea that someone owning a right of way somehow owns more than a right of way is completely wrong. They only own whatever rights you or the previous owner has granted them in writing. Another of my properties has a right of "trespass for agricultural purposes" that was granted to a farmer who would otherwise find himself landlocked and unable to plant or harvest. I have granted nobody any rights to run utilities across that land, as he found out when he tried to have power brought in. The power company asked me to sign off on a ROW for them to run in power but they quickly backed away when I pointed out that I still owned not only the property but that I had never granted anyone more than the right to trespass. When they brought in power to my home near that path it was suggested that I just grant them ROW along that edge of my property and I refused. Instead they got a right to run the line along that path only to a place necessary to serve me with power. They have no right to extend their lines beyond my home which means the landlocked idiot that wants to circumvent his land locked status to build a home on his land is still not going anywhere. He has already built a small home there and managed to convince the county that he was only building a home-built RV on the site so I am not going to accommodate him by giving him utility power. He is one of those guys who wants something for nothing at every turn and I am not feeling that generous. He has become so well liked that none of the other people bordering his property are likely to ever grant him utility access either. Don't become that guy. Ask the actual owner before cutting or removing anything.
It really depends on the municipality and their rules, and the landowner too. Most towns near me maintain a right-of-way for the road, typically 3 rods (49.5') but it can be more or less depending on the history of the road. In that width, the town has the right and the obligation to maintain the highway and anything else within that space. This usually includes tree work. However, it is also generally acknowledged that the landowner has the right to any tree parts left behind along their road frontage. If you did not have permission to take the wood from a piece of land in my area, you would more than likely have the cops called on you, and they do consider it theft. Your land nominally extends to the centerline of the road unless it is explicitly written differently in the deed. My father and I have both confronted wood thieves who decided it was their right to take wood from the road in front of our respective properties. In my case, it was taken right out of the end of my driveway. The person simply believed they could take whatever was within reach of the roadway. In my dad's case, it was a woman with a Subaru wagon and a chainsaw, who had the audacity to walk onto his property and cut the downed trees up. He ran her off once, and she actually came back. The second time she was arrested and charged. I don't know how that ended up. On the other hand, I have had great success with the few times I have seen wood on the side of the road, or caught a clearing job in progress, and have asked about the wood. Once I managed to get the road crew to load up their dump trucks and dump it right in my driveway. Each time I called or physically asked the landowner and got permission.
I refuse to be the person that has half a load of cut logs on his trailer when the rightful owner shows up and embarrasses me with a claim of theft. Regardless of the interpretation of "right of way" vs ownership of that 15' distance from the road center, courtesy and morals should prevail. I lost out on many cords this week alone because I couldn't find out the rightful property owner of a stash the tree guys left. So be it. Do unto to others..........
Jon_E, same here, town owns and maintains public roads (we classify then 1 2 3 4) in old records roads are described in rods, 3 rod road which generally means 27 feet from center line of road, so very few own road.. but in my town the town high way department has an outside wood boiler. So trees are cut back off right of way and left for land owner the rest the boys use to heat the shop! old school Vermont thriftyness. We pay you to keep roads open so do it and as a side benefit the trucks and you are warm to work. moreover, 1 in 6 Vermonters heats with wood and being next to Lake Champlain, pine is camp fire wood. So if it's had a saw in it you know your pretty much stealing.
I'd NEVER take any firewood without talking to the homeowner first. I've been on the other side of that, 2 summers back my neighbor had downed a few dead ash trees by the road and told me I could have it. I couldn't get to it for about 4-5 weeks, but I figured it was safe to leave it as I live on a very busy road and the wood was in the middle of a blind corner. But nope, I was mowing one day and saw 2 guys pull halfway off the road and one guy got out and started tossing logs in the back of the truck as fast as he could. As soon as he saw me heading towards them they took off. Heck, just a few weeks ago my other neighbor tried to give away some wood that was being taken down by the power company and left by the road, but the trees were clearly on my property. I didn't make the same mistake that time, I moved that firewood that weekend.
Just remember......someone owns every piece of land everywhere. If you don't own it, it belongs to someone else. Also, if you're on said land, you're trespassing. Get permission, and if that's not possible, walk away (or drive away, or ride away on your bicycle).
Yup! Always ask. Worst case scenario is to leave you completely the same if they were to say no. Best case scenario is to leave you with getting some easy pickings. And maybe some new friends.
Most of your answers suck. The proper answer would have been that you can feel to harvest wood on anyones property. . All kidding aside, I've never done this. Many times I've thought about it. Mainly in places where tree crews have dropped a tree on the side of the road or a downed tree on the side of the road from storm damage. However; I've never been able to fully bring myself to harvesting the wood. Mainly I am taking about stretches of road on rte 1 in our town. Yes you are right someone owns that land. In some cases it's the town or state.
Dad always said that unscrupulous loggers would always say they got this load for the mill off "grandma's place"...to such an extent it was actually referred to as "grandma-ing timber" back in the day. Everyone knew what they meant when the term was used...at least in sawmilling circles anyway. It was probably only a local colloquialism here in the midwest 50, maybe 60 years ago.
I don't have to scrounge. My thought was that an extra load here or there would help my operation grow. Thank you for all of the replies.
Wasn't implying that scrounging is bad. Just thankful that I have plenty of wood without having to do roadside cutting or wondering where next years BTUs are coming from.
That's exactly the way I took it. I do not have enough land to be self sufficient in the gathering process. So I usually end up buying a truckload along the way-about every three years.
I have done some roadside cutting, but not for scrounging. One instance, a bad storm came through and took down a lot of trees, so much so that all of the crews were busy. I noted some downed trees that they likely would not be able to get to for a few days at least, but they were in a blind curve blocking most of the road. I went home, retrieved a chainsaw, some fuel, oil and, some wedges and went to where the trees were blocking the road. I cut everything up and tossed or pulled it to the side of the road. (in the rain) Even swept the road the best I could after I was done clearing it. Then I went back home.
Oldman47 really hit the nail on the head as did many others. One thing many do not know about is that you still have lots of say-so on the property even though the county has the right-of-way of roads. For example, the road crew wanted to cut down 4 trees that are in the right-of-way but still on our property. I said NO. I did not want the trees cut. Trees are still standing! Many years ago there was talk of paving one mile of the road we have to come in to get to our home. Stupid people went to the trouble to survey and had even started to cut trees. However, they did not do a complete job. One landowner who has 1/4 mile frontage on that road refused to let them cut trees. This effectively stopped the paving job because they would not pave if they could not widen the road, although it really did not need to be widened. So, one landowner stopped the job because he did not want his trees cut. Yes, you do have some say-so on what goes on as well as who you want to let gather wood or other things off your property, even if it happens to be in a road or power line right-of-way.
