Absent ME Landowners: How to Protect Your Land from Timber Trespass
Absent ME Landowners: How to Protect Your Land from Timber Trespass
Wed, 08/15/2012 - 10:11am
Posted by Jo Woodworth
I will be giving excerpts from a hand-out that I am currently writing to be offered to the Maine State Forestry Department (MSF), Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and Maine Conservation Department. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions I would love to receive them.
STAGE #1 Preparing YOUR Property
If you own property in Maine, you would b wise to have these (3) pieces of information:
a) A deed from of the County in which the property is located. You can get a copy from the Registry of Deeds for a small charge.
b) A town map of where your property is located along with abutting land owners. You can get a copy from the Town office where your property is located for a small charge. When you get your map, inquiry as to who the people are that abut your property.
c) A survey of your property. This is more complicated as original surveys can be many years old and unobtainable. Before you bought the property, you would have walked the boundaries to know what you were buying. If not, the deed you received at the time of purchase will have the property description from a survey.
If you are able to get a copy of the survey, I would strongly recommend doing this. If not, you can probably find traces of the survey. Old surveyors used axe blaze (small cuts above the tree trunk) to make boundary lines. If you are still not sure, you can contact your local Maine State Forestry Department. They can help you locate your property markers. Worst case, hire a new survey to be done but they are costly. I would then walk your land boundaries with your surveyor and mark trees every 20 feet with double slash lines (//) in orange paint. The Maine Statutes recognized this as proper markings for the boundary line of a property. Also, nail NO TRESPASSING signs with your local contact number (if you have one, an out of state number is obvious to timber trespassers) on the signs so people are able to get in touch with you if they have a question about your property. Photograph your tree markings, your NO TRESPASS signs and any thing that makes your property special such as a stream, a pond, an Eagle's nest, etc. Then mark your photographs with the date they were taken and store with your other documents. Hopefully each time you visit your property you can update your photos.
Once you have completed these (3) steps, it would (wood) be wise to try to contact the abutting land owners to your property. Give them your contact information and ask them to call you if they see any suspicious activity on your property. If they do call you about activity that you have not authorized, call your local Maine State Forestry Department immediately. If they do not respond, call the Maine Highway Patrol, Maine Sheriff's Dept, or local Maine City Police, whichever applies to your locality. They will have someone come to your property and investigate what is going on. Be prepared to tell them what you were told and that person's full name and phone number as they will then contact them.
When you visit your property, be sure to bring your pictures every time so you can see if there has been any damage done to your property. If there has been activity, call your Maine State Forestry Dept. immediately, no matter how small. People who make wreaths during the Christmas season tend to "tip" on absent landowners property. When they "tip" they cut off the branches on the lower part of the tree to about as high as they can reach. Your trees will not die but it does destroy the beauty of the tree and it is illegal. Take pictures of any damage and contact the authorities.
Next...."How to Hire A Forester" and "What to Look out for in a Harvester"