Live in rural PA and MD. Today I found a large oak that had been cut down on the side of the road from the wind storms today. Part of the enormous trunk had already been bucked, just to move it out og the road. The rest of the big limbs remain intact and on the side. The wood is on the side of the road, but I am not sure who it belongs to, as these are all farmswith long dirt roads leading to the houses. I could go farm to farm and ask if I can have the wood, but I am wondering if it is generally accepted that when a tree falls in the road and is pushed to the side, it is fair game?
Scrounge ethics lesson
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Road side trees are sort of a funny thing. If they are down and cut up just laying there I'd grab what you can. Someone else already had the same thought. By the way do you think if the tree fell on the road side it made any noise? 
I'd ask as a common courtesy. Not everyone can clean up large chunks of wood the same day the tree came down, especially in winter. I'd be pretty mad if someone took my wood because I was working a heavy schedule and didn't have the ability to process it right away.
I'm sure if you just ask one farmer they will know who's tree it is. and thy will probably let you have it.
TreePointer
Minister of Fire
SolarAndWood
Minister of Fire
Unless it is on the curb with a free sign, I ask. There is likely a website with tax maps of your area if you are worried about going to the right house.
I asked a neighbor to scrounge storm wood once, and was given permission. By the time I got done with morning jobs and was prepared to go fetch it, some dirtbag from out of state was there loading his minivan with it. I use the term dirtbag, because that is how I and the neighbor viewed the thief that did not have the courtesy to ask, but then he was from out of state.
SolarAndWood
Minister of Fire
tcassavaugh
Minister of Fire
I've often wondered the same thing. I know that the tree crews hired by the power companies often cut stuff in stove length and leave it along side the road. Where you can pull off, its picked up quickly. Where you cant, there is still a lot down. Some are cut and left in log length. I'v been waiting for them to be picked up but i guess they never will.
cass
cass
Backwoods Savage
Minister of Fire
Not fair game here in MI. For the most part, we own to the center of the road. The county does have the right-of-way but we still own the property. That means of any trees are cut, they belong to the land owner. Regarless, it is still common courtesy and it takes so little time to just ask. Then as a bonus, you may even make a new friend.
Kenster
Minister of Fire
The general consensus around here is that the wood along an easement belongs to the property owner. BUT, daily I pass a stack of bucked up rounds that have been sitting next to fence ever since the electric company cleared out around the easement two or three years ago. Actually, I know of several such stack, each of which would at least fill the back of my pickup. I hate to see that wood sit there and rot.
andrewdee
Member
smokinj
Minister of Fire
Hard question. Around here theres stuff I can point out that been there for years. Mostly big stuff that people cant cut.
We own it too but I was told they can hunt and even trap in my ditch, (they are going to lose their trap if they do).Backwoods Savage said:
If I see a new 4x4 truck setting by the side of the road can I take it. Same thing only different object. Maybe I want to get rid of that wood and maybe I want to keep it but I OWN to the center of the road, pay taxes to the center of the road, and if it's mine please ask. People seem to think that just because nobody is near that things are available. Years ago snowmobile people from the city thought they could go any place they wanted in the country cause it was open ground. As I watched these idiots pulling there snowmobile out of the lake I informed them they were on private property and they just said " We didn't know, we're from the city and didn't think we were hurting anyone. I pionted out to them the fence row that had wire buried in the snow and asked them what would have happened if a ski had caught at 70mph and they just shug their heads. Thats why I have to have such high amounts of insurance to protect myself from people.
I also looked out one day and saw several people swimming in my lake and went out to see what they were doing. Said they were going by and the water looked inviting and thought they would just take a swim. I told them that the next time I went by their place I would just walk in their house and take a crap so I didn't stink up my place. I dought they got the message. There is few things in life that is free.
Also make sure your kid doesn't leave his new bike by the sidewalk cause it looks free to me.
leaddog
I also looked out one day and saw several people swimming in my lake and went out to see what they were doing. Said they were going by and the water looked inviting and thought they would just take a swim. I told them that the next time I went by their place I would just walk in their house and take a crap so I didn't stink up my place. I dought they got the message. There is few things in life that is free.
Also make sure your kid doesn't leave his new bike by the sidewalk cause it looks free to me.
leaddog
shawneyboy
Minister of Fire
If it is on the side of the road I would ask for sure....
Oldspark, are you saying they can tresspass because of the ROW ??? Not in PA, I can tell you that much
Shawn
Oldspark, are you saying they can tresspass because of the ROW ??? Not in PA, I can tell you that much
Shawn
the city cuts wood all the time around here, if its not our neighborhood its one close by. if its stacked on the curb its fair game but i do knock on the door of the house its in front of if someones home. i start by asking if i can have some of the wood and then ask them if they need some of it, 90% of the time they ask me if im selling it and once i explain i have a wood stove and heat my house with it they are super nice about it. i have had a situation where i was pestered to pick up the bark i left behind and that it was not all gone along with some huge trunk pieces from the 80's. the ones i like the most are the insurance jobs where the tree falls on a property and it cant be removed for 2 weeks when the tree service can get to it,then owner let me stack the wood along his driveway because i got it off his green lawn. and the tree crews , these guys work hard and if approached nicely will let you have more wood than you could ever dream of. best to have it come from someone that gives you permission but ive been known to stop and pick some from a pile on the side of the road. this time of year im sure some are picking it up to burn as they have ran out and its like gold to them . hope you find the owner and it makes a connection for more wood in the future , its all about networking. pete
firefighterjake
Minister of Fire
Ask first . . . but ask quickly.
I know I had the Town take down a tree that they were concerned about . . . and I started cutting it up, but didn't finish and couldn't get back to it for a few days . . . came home three or four days later to find my wood MIA . . . fortunately I have a neighbor who is always home and since she is a retired school teacher she tends to know most folks and so she let me know who took the wood . . . turned out he was told to clean up the wood in the ditch by the Town . . . I informed him that I was planning on burning the wood . . . but since he had actually done me a bit of a favor by cutting up the big trunk and he was planning on burning the "oak" he had cut up I told him to keep half of the wood and I would keep the other half . . . also tried to tell him that his "oak" was actually elm . . . but he insisted it was oak . . . figured he would figure it out when he went to split the wood.
I know I had the Town take down a tree that they were concerned about . . . and I started cutting it up, but didn't finish and couldn't get back to it for a few days . . . came home three or four days later to find my wood MIA . . . fortunately I have a neighbor who is always home and since she is a retired school teacher she tends to know most folks and so she let me know who took the wood . . . turned out he was told to clean up the wood in the ditch by the Town . . . I informed him that I was planning on burning the wood . . . but since he had actually done me a bit of a favor by cutting up the big trunk and he was planning on burning the "oak" he had cut up I told him to keep half of the wood and I would keep the other half . . . also tried to tell him that his "oak" was actually elm . . . but he insisted it was oak . . . figured he would figure it out when he went to split the wood.
fmer55
New Member
oldspark said:
i hope you dont really believe that either....if they deem they need your land for something, rest assured your land will not be your land anymore
Thistle
Minister of Fire
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