Thread: How Legal: Salvaging Suburban Fallen Roadside Storm Timber

check with yr local council mate, but in general terms just go for it, usually its just cut waste that will get dumped or chipped so waste not want not !

did you clean up the hole branch ,or did you just cut what you wanted and leave the crap for the council to clean up ?

if you take the lot , the council will be driving around looking for the reported banch for hours

it should be first come first served but there is the public insurance problem , a kid plays with your chain saw on council land ???

dont know and would say it would change within each state

Don't know about your council area, but Greater Bendigo takes a VERY dim view of their ratepayers taking any fallen timber. Quite substantial fines apply.
Last January we had a mini tornado come through and there was more fallen timber than you could poke a stick at. One year later there is still a lot of fallen timber along the roads, but if you are brave enough to take it be prepared for being reported.

In this litigious day and age a lot of councils would probably take a dim view of you collecting timber from the roadside, especially of you were wielding a chainsaw. It's a pity, because it reduces demand on natural resources and landfill space not to mention reducing clean up costs. You can just picture some wally going at some logs on the verge with a chainsaw and injuring himself or a bystander and the resulting legal mess.
Luckily the local council ganger lives a few doors up the road from me and he was happy to let me cut some large logs sections from felled trees recently and even stacked them all up for me with the backhoe.

Mick

Ok here in lies the problem. I do not begrudge yoy the fallem timber and think that it is a great use for what would otherwise be wasted BUT the council fellow that helped you out has to be liable if I was to complain that you got the wood and I did not. You see I wanted it and had to refrain from picking it up because I would have incurred a fine had I been caught but it seems that just because you know this fellow you are privelaged enough to avoid the fine for the same peice of wood that I wanted some time ago.

So I call the council and tell them I say a buddy of mine get a few trees piled up for him and I would like the same courtesy. The person on the phone explains that the council does not approve of such activity. To this I give the council your friends truck licence plate and a description of him as well.


Do you see my point.

Pete

mmm some interetsing comments but a bit off track or even way off track.

the question is, is yr ethos to salavage any waste timber, if it is, grab it.

Call yr ocuncil to aks if thats an issue, better ot have it in the ute and on the way home i reckon...bugger any litigous issues and bugger nay smartarse who clal the council to ask for the same thing..

take the opportunitty and dont waste wood...

Pete,
I can see your (devil's advocate) point of view, but it's easily countered. As an officer in our local rural fire brigade I was merely assisting the council to reduce some of the potential fuel load which had resulted from its vegetation management. I was actually saving the council money as the logs that were stacked for me would have otherwise taken more machine time to push into the scrub on the other side of the road. I'm still going to have to pay for someone to cart the logs from my neighbour's front yard around to my back yard. You wouldn't have incurred a fine picking up timber around here, you're welcome to bring your ute/truck/trailer and chainsaw and have at it around here, there's still trees lying around from a few cyclones ago. Of course this would probably be quite different in an urban area, but this is pretty rural here.

Mick

Modern society really sucks.

G'day Thumbsucker,

This thing that councils say that any rubbish left out for curbside collection, waste or green, that is their property and you can't take it or trees cut by road gangs and left for the council mulcher to come buy and pulp - sod that!

You see it, you want,you take it.

For my 2¢, councils have gone too far in trying to lord over Tom, Dick, Harry and Jane to the point of ego mania.

Take it. Councils should be in place to provide services individuals can't take care of such as roads, rubbish disposal, public transport etc, and to look after the common good, i.e. pass bylaws that generally protect the well being of the community rather than individuals.

Can't see that taking fallen timber falls into that category.

My brother lives in Invergordon, about 30kms NE of Shepparton, and to pick up ANY fallen wood lying on the road verges they need to apply for, and pay for, a licence from the local shire. Ridiculous.

Regulatory Impact Statement: National Approach to Firewood Collection and Use in Australia

The National Approach to Firewood Collection and Use in Australia

provides a policy framework or 'toolkit' of policy options that government, industry and the community may adopt to address the detrimental impacts of firewood collection on remnant woodland ecosystems and the habitats of threatened species. It provides a national framework for each jurisdiction to draw upon in developing tailored Action Plans appropriate to their circumstances.

. It is often not appreciated that old standing trees with hollows, and dead wood on the ground, provide an important source of food and habitat for many species of birds, mammals, reptiles and invertebrates as well as playing an essential role in maintaining forest and woodland nutrient cycles. In fact, the deadwood component is at least as important as the living overstorey, leaf litter and soil components for the conservation of biodiversity and maintenance of ecological processes.

http://www.deh.gov.au/land/publicati...ris/index.html

The important words here are appropriate for their circumstances. For example a rural council may not allow roadside collection due to the environmental impact of removal. (loss of habitat for lizards etc) or may allow it under a permit system. Urban councils may allow removal from streets as the environmental impact is reduced or may not allow it as the public risk (including to yourself) is high.

Contact with your local council is reccomened prior to any action being taken.

My personal view is that if you dont invest in the growth of the tree then you dont deserve to use its features. By invest I mean purchase from a supplier as well as grow your own. This attitude will encorage a viable plantation industry (including specialist feature grade wood for turing and cabinetry and reduce pressure on vital native forests)

As always, a good rule can be applied in ways that lead to stupid results. You aren't allowed to fell timber on public land without a licence - for good resource conservation and environmental reasons as well as OHS concerns. You aren't allowed to pick up any timber you find because to allow that would lead to a loophole - every illegal timber cutter would claim that the timber was fallen and he just cleaned it up. In a sense that is why country councils are tougher on this than one in urban areas.

But the fact remains that if the council cuts down a tree or does some trimming, the valuable timber that it genereates should not be wasted or vandalised by being chipped and if it is left behind by the person who cut it you should be allowed to collect it.

Some councils are sensible about this, but many aren't. And the council workers who without authority allow you to take it are often themselves committing an offence by aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the breach by the person who asks them if they could the waste away! But it gives that guy a good defence!!!

So ask the guys taking the tree down or if they've gone,ring the council and ask if you can remove the pile of timber trimmings on the nature strip at [address] and see what happens - the worst they can say is no. If they say yes, go ahead.

I wouldn't even bother asking the council. Just do it.

A couple of thaughts.

ZEN
If a tree falls on the footpath and no one is there to hear it or see it, did it happen.

Council gangs like to get back to depot early, their bosses don't like them comming back with stuff in the back of the truck. Is you place closer than the dump?

Most times it costs even government bodies to dump timber? Isn't national competition polocy wonderfull. It doesn't cost anything to drop it at your place.

Quite often council gangs only have small chippers. They chip what they can and come back for the rest later

Council gangs often cut first and come round with a chipper later



I have approached gangs for the contents of their truck.... no problems mate... do you recon it wil all fit.....Oh we gotta drop that one with the pink ribon over there.....yeh mate chip what you can, I'll be back with the trailer.

I know a couple of blokes who have formal arrangements with council and main roads people.

Some areas its unoficial polocy..... they leave the stuff there a couple of days in the hope that it will " go away by its self"

BUT you gotta be quick..... they want it gone......you can bet you boots some other bugger has got his eye on it.

This decen sized sheoak fel down by the side of the road near me a while ago..... I thaught "I must hook up the trailer & grab that".... got too bussy....drove past a couple of days later to see the best bit choped out and the rest chucked in the bush......theavin mongrels

Keep your eyes open.
Be quick, be organised, be safe and know what you can handle.

cheers