Dead & Ready and a Couple Free Things.

Pretty much a free for all. Especially on the numbered rural routes. Unless it’s in front of somebodies house I consider it fair game. The rule is if the property owner wants the wood they must put a sign on it. If there’s no sign it’s actually the property of the state or subcontractor that cut it down and their responsibility to remove. And they don’t care if you do their job for them.
If it’s on someone’s lawn ask permission.
If it’s on a long stretch of forested land (Not a farm) I consider it optimal. Here in Ct the people who own long stretches of forested land are usually overflowing with money. They don’t want it and I’ve seen instances where they don’t even know it’s there
A lot of no trespassing signs and I don’t bother.

 

:tents fingers: Excellent!

 

I always try and get permission to take it, but times its been there for many months untouched and in that case ill then take it. Most of the time i cut roadside and like to get the okay for that as well.
My pet peeve is when i ask and get a "NO" and a years later the wood still sits rotting away. Some folks dont want the wood and some folks dont wanna give it away!

 

X2

 

Yeah it’s always nice to get permission. No denying that LOL
Before I ever scrounged a piece of wood from the side of a road I talked to the state workers who were doing the work. They filled me in on how it works,,,,,,at least in their opinion. Basically just said anyone is free to take it as long as no one has claimed it with signage. Roadside trees are considered useless as far as lumber is concerned. They all get carted to the bio energy plant.
All that said I don’t do much roadside pickup. At least not since that big score in 2018. I’m still processing that wood albeit slowly. That wood was the towns responsibility to remove. They loved me for taking all those trees. Town tree guy used to cruise by about three times a day cheering me on. It’s all about budgets for the towns.

When I see something on the road that intrigues me there are avenues to investigate. The towns Online GIS maps will tell you who owns the property. From there it’s sometimes easy to determine if they may want the wood. Do they have a wood burning chimney on their house? One of the first things I look for
As Brad suggested time plays a big role. If it’s hanging around forever there’s a good chance no one wants it. I know a few spots where there’s logs that have been laying for three years now. I’d grab them up in a moments notice if I were looking.
Brad, not sure if you remember that big pile of Black Locust and Shagbark logs I stumbled on this spring. Oh boy would I love to cart those big boys home. Some really nice big solid logs. Primo.
I used the GIS maps to find out the property is owned by an LLC. Little online snooping and found the actual owner of the LLC. Found his FB page and confirmed from posts that he owns the property. Sent him a message asking about the logs but never got a reply.
Drove by a week ago and they’re still there. Grrrr. If law and order breaks much further down in this country I may just have to steal them. LOL. Been sitting at least two years now. Eventually they will find their way to a landfill.

FB marketplace has enough free wood to keep most people busy. Gotta recheck your searches almost daily to get the good scores. Permission right upfront.

 

Nice score Brad!!!

 

So I went out this morning to see what was near the boat launch and there is nothing there near the boat launch nor slightly up 151, but lots of manicured spots around recently cut trees. There is a downed tree before the narrow spot will here the guard rail starts heading north on the south bound side, but right above it on another tree is a sign I could not read that started with “POSTED” heading north from there near the intersection with Creek Row I saw a bunch down and then nearer the driveway I saw the sign saying “please don’t take the wood” I guess I missed that wood. I think the photo idea will work well because they’re geotagged and dated on my phone so I can map them and see if they’re still there in a few weeks if they are near a yard. Although lots of spots on other routes have logs piled up that are clearly not claimed.

Up until this most of my wood came from free wood posts and friends who know I will take the wood. I’ve got a couple of guys that offered free wood and have contacted me before even posting it the next time they had wood.

 

Every state is probably going to be different. Up here, if there is something lying near the side of the road (whether it came down naturally or by the power company), there are regulations. If it is in the national forest or state park, leave it unless you have a permit (unless you're actually camping). If it's wood that was cut under the power lines and is under a private property easement, there is a big myth that anyone can go grab it because of the easement. Just because the power line goes over or through someone's property and they (the power company) have the right to cut a 30' swath through that property does not negate the fact that it is private property and you should still ask permission first. Granted a lot of people don't follow the regulations however I've seen some understandably angry people almost get into altercations because someone is cutting up wood on their property. Several years ago, the forest service actually brought the local PD to someone's house because they had been caught cutting up wood in the national forest without a permit.