What should homeowners and town workers do with roadside trees that are blown over?
Clearing roadside trees is complicated. The town has the right to remove trees for public safety and travel. However, any product such as firewood is owned by the landowner. Once the imminent threat to safety and property is over, the landowner should be notified in writing before work commences, in certain circumstances. Obviously, the tornado has made it difficult for the town to comply with these laws and satisfy the important public interest of cleaning up such a massive amount of debris. Slash along the edge of the road that was created by the town or utilities to get the roads open for public safety and for access reasons will not be required to be cleaned up by the landowner or the town. Slash means branches, bark, tops, chunks, cull logs, uprooted stumps and broken or uprooted brush and trees left on the ground after timber harvesting operations, and other cutting operations. Wood chips and small chunks of woody debris are not considered slash when such materials are the result
