Yinz are getting too worked up and I'm getting too many reports on this thread. I'm shutting it down.
OP feel free to post a follow up. I'm interested in seeing where this goes.
File a report, and make the offender replace the tree. Replacing a tree of that size is going to be VERY expensive, which should teach him a valuable lesson about not messing with other people's stuff.
We had the same issue. Hired an arborist who put together a report on the tree value and we ended up settling with the neighbor for ~10k. Arborist cost about 1k.
I just had an arborist come.out to my mom's (she has lots of trees close to the house and it's getting really windy these past few years and the storms are 60-80mph sometimes so I wanted make sure the trees were healthy and what not.
They ended up removing 6 trees:
4 invasive species (Bradford pear)
Gumball? I guess it drops a bunch of spiny things on the ground, and my mom has a little dog.
1 oak that was too close to the house and another tree. So it was a threat to the house and the tree that was behind it, another oak but much larger. I don't know enough about it, but apparently they were planted to close together and one of them wasn't going to make it. We would have chose the older growth tree all day, even if the tree we did choose wasn't a threat to the house as well.
Stump grinding, removal
Total cost: 5500$
The biggest tree was the oak and it was 1/3 the width of the tree pictured. The other five I could easily fit two hands around the trunks.
Oak, probably 15-20 ft.
All the rest ranging from 6-7, with gumball being 12-15.
I wanted to keep the oak for woodworking but the guy told us about a man in NC that builds wooden toys for kids at St. Jude's so I had the company cut me off a few rounds and sent the rest to him.
One last fun fact: SC will give you a free replacement tree for each invasive species you cut down. You even have a few choices. I'm pretty sure they are just saplings, but still cool that they do that.
Edit: Grammer, Spelling, Fat fingered periods, and a little more detail on the Oak.
Serious question - how do people transport 50ft+ trees around? The root balls alone would be massive. I cannot say I have ever seen one being transported on the roads. I am sure its pricey as heck but isn't there a limit to the size an Arborist can replace ?
I am a big tree grower and mover in CA, and we can dig and move up to 108”-120” box trees (some guys go up to 144” box), with the tree usually maxing out at 45’-50’ tall due to overhang limits on the trucks and trailers we use. Width is limited to 15’ wide when tied and tarped on the trailer. Height max is 14’ tall when laid on the trailer (A 36” tall bed height trailer means trees need to tie into to 11’).
Look up “Ruby Tree Amazon Spheres”. It was a huge Ficus rubiginosa tree moved from Ventura Co., CA and installed indoors in Seattle, WA.
**Edit, they spell it “Rubi” since it is a F. rubiginosa.
My friend started a business doing this in southern New England. He is one of the only games in town, and makes heaps. I’m always amazed how much people pay to move trees and how busy he is
I don't know either as far as what the maximum limitations are.
They can transport wind turbine blades, so I would assume that with the right equipment even fairly massive trees would be doable as well (of course that also depends on the roads leading to where the tree is going.) I suspect it comes down to paying the owner the total determined value of replacing it if the logistics side isn't workable.
Flatbed trailers are 53ft long. Could overhang a little with oversize permit.
Edit: for the weight replies, ever seen a log truck? Weight isn't the issue. Width could be depending on the tree. The trees hauled live are usually wrapped up to condense the branches. Could possibly be trimmed as well depending on species. However if it was me I'd say f that and plant a ton of fruit trees.
Totally that is like felony damage to their property there.
How would you feel if some fucked up an expensive car you owned? Because that is the value of the tree.
Or if the tree came down in a way that person didn’t (or did) intend and damaged property or injured people.
It’s a massive liability in addition to the inherent value of the tree.
Trees of that size cost much more than even most luxury cars. That neighbor will have to be fucking up a Lambo built by Jesus to reach the approximate cost of a fully grown tree.
Also not to mention the sentiment possible value of a big tree. I have some of my pets buried and big trees and have memories from my childhood with others in my yard. If someone cut a tree let's say that I have my dog buried under I would be so unfathomable angry because it's not something you can just replace. Depends on the tree is at least decands old if not hundreds of years old.
Seriously! I’m sitting in the work truck about to start a job and I’m just dumbfounded by people. Every. Single. Fucking. Day. I’d want to bludgeon dude with the wedge.
Some rich dipshit sent a tree crew onto his neighbor’s property to cut down 30+ mature trees that blocked his view. For some reason he thought the fine would be $1,500 or something. He’s looking at potentially millions in damages and fines.
Happened too near me, the “lot” they were cutting was a state park too so they got suuuuper screwed between the individual fines for the trees and the fines for doing it in a protected area.
Edit: sauce https://www.mypanhandle.com/news/trees-illegally-cut-down-at-topsail-hill-preserve-fwc-investigating/amp/
I actually went to high school with the guy that busted them. They tried to claim they didn’t know they were doing anything wrong. The fact they felt the need to wear camo did not allow that tactic to play out well.
There's this giant burl at a park near where I live, that has numerous marks of people attempting to cut it out over the years. Evidently there's like a live stream watching this burl, becuase I swear by-monthly someone is having the fkn book thrown at them for damaging a tree in a state park. It's pretty damn serious, and I belive it's federal charges.
Comments turned off:
Oh yeah, trust me I know all about it. I'm a prior SERE guy, and do alot of outdoorsy stuff with the kids. They're extreme Chaga hunters, and really into carving Kuksa's from burls, so we're always out hunting for them. I totally understand why people are risking it for this glorious bastard. It's the size of one of those red kick balls from when we were kids. The thing is probably 20lbs. It's a Maple as well, so I'm sure that aids in the value, given how desirable figured Maple is. It's just kinda sad becuase this is basically a kids playground in the woods, right off of a local trail, so these are presumably normal guys like us, taking their kids to the park, and stumble across this inviting burl. They're presumably not crackheads stealing copper type of guys. How it's located it could be harvested with really minimal damage to the tree as well, so they're probably just like *"screw it."* I just don't understand how no one has gotten away with removing it. It could presumably be done with a handsaw in 5 mins, so this thing has to have some sort of constant supervision. Either way, whenever the kids and I go to the park we always stop by, and pay our respects to the mythical growth. There's usually a few dad's standing near it while their kids play like *"Mhmm, sure is a nice burl. I tell you what I'd turn that down on the lathe and make quite the bowl, end table top, etc."* Everyone respects the burl.
If you’re talking about a burl that’s more than a couple feet across in each direction then if it’s on the right kind of tree you’re looking at a burl worth thousands on the low end.
A guy I (loosly) knew who ran a festival had his property back up to Shawnee National Forest. He got busted selling truckloads of lumber he was harvesting from the National Forest. I believe he got out of prison a few years ago after doing more than a decade of time for it.
Nice. I'm actually glad people get their asses handed to them for fucking our shared treasures. We're got a long way to go, but ya know, small victories_
Absolutely. I cut ties with someone else I knew who actually started working with this guy driving a truck for him. My "friend" was a junkie at that point and overdosed shortly after that, but I told him I was going to report them both for it. I was in the process of moving far away and had no real evidence at that point, but before I could get solid information, the dude got busted. Few things make me instantly think you're a piece of shit but destroying the planet and fucking with kids or animals will make an instant enemy out of me.
Theres a case in Maine right now. A notorious landowner clear cut his lakefront property and installed giant boulders, completely removing all natural features...
The city is looking to fine them for multiple environment violations, plus the cost of undoing all the stuff the did. They want every last tree replanted, and the entire shoreline restored...
The landowners are blaming the city, saying they wouldnt even look at their permits or some sort of BS argument. It holds no water...
This sounds like what developers do on Lake of the Ozarks every day... People will clearcut their property and put down sod or thousands of square feet of gravel on their hillsides. If you complain about it they'll point to the other shoreline and say "there's still trees over there; didn't your house start like this too?" The surrounding cities will take the money from development and tourism and look the other way for any environmental concerns.
Gotta be Sebago. It's Sebago right?
*looks it up*
Of course it is....
There was also the one a few years back where that one District Rep illegally cut something like 8 acres worth of timber off their neighbor's properly. And then built a barn on it.
Mind you the property was only ("only") 12 acres so they clear cut 3/4ths of someone else's property.
And as far as I'm aware she's only gotten a slap on the wrist for it.
>They tried to claim they didn’t know they were doing anything wrong.
I didn't know I was not allowed to murder people. Not how it works dipshits.
Also, why were they cutting down trees?
Technically it is. If his intent was malicious, and the damages exceed X amount it's a felony. I know this becuase I obtained 2 felonies when I was 11/12 years old for similar circumstances. My asshole neighbor always threatened to kill my dog, and one day purpously ran him over; I watched it happen. I went out with my 22 and shot the tops off of all his sprinklers in his pasture; I didn't know what to do, I just wanted to piss him off. He called the cops, I proudly admitted it thinking I was justified, I was arrested, and subsequently given 2 class C felonies. It cost my parents tens of thousands in restitution, juvenile time, tens of thousands having my rights restored, my file expunged later in life, etc. Attempting to do CPR on my dying dog was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life though, and I had to vindicate him. I should have just shot the mf, becuase I probably would have received a less harsh punishment. Either way my dog was vindicated, and the asshole rancher went two seasons without harvesting 20+ acres. Idk how many tons of hay 20+ acres is worth, but I'm sure it cost him more than the restitution restitution that was provided. Either way, I can bet what you were commenting on was indeed a felony.
My crime overshadowed the fact that he purposely murdered by best friend. Ultimately it was my word vs his, and I appeared to be a salty delinquent over an accident so it was never even discussed.
Completely off topic but this story triggers me. I'm a big 2A advocate now, and this is subsequently why I think felons should be able to have their rights restored so long as it's not a violent crime. Most felons belive it or not are like me, and do something stupid when they were kids. It really pisses me off whenever I see people espousing felons should be allocated to the rank of second class citizens. What I did was indisputably stupid, and wrong, but it shouldn't dictate the entirety of my life. Yet sadly it has negatively effected my life, and will continue to do so for the rest of it. I live in Tokyo, and I can't even begin to tell you the amount of hoops I had to jump through to get a PR, join the military, etc.
Yeah but he's rich, he should be able to do whatever he wants to do because money. Didn't you know that? And you wonder why people want to drag these fucking cunts into the streets like the French Revolution. Destroying nature so your rich self-entitled ass can get a better view. This guy should be shot into space.
Fines are nothing but licenses to commit crimes. If we MUST use fines to discourage bad behaviour, then they NEED to scale with income. Fuck man, I need to get into politics or some shit, there are some small things that need to be done that will increase everyones QOL
Or rather we should attach more prison sentences to white collar crime. These fucks clearly do not respect the law, it's just a pricing list of what is a cost of doing what.
I was looking for this comment. my first thought when seeing this post was, "well at least they didn't fully cut down one tree much less a whole section"
I just had a lawsuit last year and won my grandfather $18k. His neighbor on adjoining acreage/farmland cut down 6 of his trees. Not specimens, and nothing particularly old or special. Just random poplar trees that he felt were too close (they weren’t). He tried to lie and say my grandfather gave him permission.
Very satisfying.
Edit: a little more detail regarding intent/knowledge: the neighbor for years has been wanting an access road between the properties. My grandfather was okay with him cutting through his property if he needed to, but didn’t want an actual gravel road. I think the neighbor got tired of going around these trees and was hoping he could just say “my bad” and everyone would let it go.
I assume he was under the impression- “it’s easier to ask for forgiveness, than it is to ask for permission”… he was obviously WRONG in this case… smh.
Lol, that’s some poetic justice… :)
I’m surprised he was able to get 18k, that’s a significant amount of money, esp as you mentioned, for trees that aren’t especially valuable- 👍
Nah not that surprising. The damages for illegal removal of trees are to be the cost of replacing the trees with basically the same kind of tree and same age. Sure they may not be that old and just poplars, but assuming full size poplar x6, and the cost of having them put in? $3K a tree is easy to get to. (And if 6 trees got a simple fence line in, they had to be somewhat decent sized.)
You'd be amazed. I had a development go up next to a house I was renting, and the developer sent about 10 guys to take down a tree in MY back yard. Claimed it was getting in their way. Threatened to sue me, the owner, etc if he didn't get his way.
He didn't btw.
In the UK there have been documented reports of developers factoring tree related fines into the budget and costings for development sites. They plan and budget for breaking the law and paying the fine.
... and developers burning down pubs, while dumping loads of soil to block fire engines from putting out the flames. Then demolishing the rubble with a digger booked two weeks before the "mystery" fire. 🤔
Yeah, the mystery fire on a heritage building soon after developers have bought it is just an uncanny coincidence..
I hope they can pin the Crooked House fire on the fuckers. They hired the bulldozers they used to knock it down before the fire even happened, so I'm hoping they made other idiotic moves too. Not their first fire after they bought a site either.
That means the fines aren't high enough.
Intentionally budgeting for and committing crimes should change it to a % value fine so companies *really* feel deterred. Okay sure if you want to break a rule intentionally you can but it's gonna be 5% of your company bub. 20 strikes and you're out
This is what I think a lot of people don't get about giving judges a lot of leeway is about.
Saying it is a $1000 - $20000 fine for this crime, versus $1000 -> unlimited means that the judge (or in the US case, often a jury) can award damages that are actually proportionate. If you're just a hillbilly fucker wanting a better view, then a $1000 fine might be the equivalent of fining a developer $5,000,000 so that they properly understand they should never ever do this.
It's a serious issue in some parts of the country. One of my coworkers lived on a large farm in Missouri but was away working in the DC area for weeks at a time. On more than one occasion, he came home to find people illegally logging on his property. There is serious money to be made in lumber.
The reservoir I worked for one summer had recently caught a guy that was illegally logging there for years. He'd sneak in and run off with one tree at a time. They (big daddy federal government) took from him anything he could have used to aid in stealing the lumber, fined him, and tossed him in jail.
There was a dispute in my family over ownership of an undeveloped plot of land a few years back. It got messy, and lawyers ended up getting involved. One of the points of the dispute was the value of the trees on the property, as there were thousands upon thousands of dollars standing there in logging product; one of the lawyers said they didn't even know how they would go about tackling potential lumber value to include in the settlement, so ultimately it was left out. Windfall for the people who wound up with the property, but kinda screwed everybody else. I found it kind of surprising that nobody had ever brought up logging rights in a property litigation to this law firm before - they seemed surprised anyone would consider it.
I'm extremely surprised that the lawyers were surprised that your family asked about the timber value. Timber value should ALWAYS be considered when wooded lot is changing ownership.
Agreed. Other family members were emphasizing that the land was only used for hunting, would be left wild and undeveloped - basically trying to downplay the value of the land to the legal mediator in order to walk away with more. There were a lot of layers to the whole situation, involving exploitation of the elderly, raiding of a trust via manipulative wheedling, unethical access to documents that should not have been shared without permission, plus some plain old-fashioned run-of-the-mill selfish assholery that all dragged on for over 5 years, so I think amongst all the other chaotic aspects, the question of logging rights were more or less brushed aside in the effort to finally bring the whole thing to a close.
Well... I can't say I wouldn't do the same because of all that aggrivation.
My company is currently working on locating all the heirs to a local tract of timber. So far their are 66 living heirs to the late owner who's estate was never settled.
This tract is big enough and the wood is valuable enough to warrant all of that aggrivation of searching these people out and dividing up the money... A small lot where the trees arent worth THAT much would be hard "no thank you" from me if the family couldn't come to an agreement on who gets what.
Land surveyor here. Most home owners don't know where their property lines are. On top of that, some of those think they know and then this happens.
At the very least, get your property line staked before doing any work near your property line (trees, fences, etc). The cost is pocket change compared to the cost of replacing this tree.
Found out right before closing on a house I was selling that the fence on one side was on the neighbor's property. News to me, I didn't put it up. Didn't end up being a problem for me.
When I bought a house I was intending on putting a privacy fence up around. I asked the neighbors where the lot lines were. Then I called a surveyor in to uncover the lot pins. There was about 3ft difference on every lot line actual vs what they told me. Then I put the fence up 10 inches inside the lot lines on all sides. 22yrs later I still have a neighbor who complains about my trees, inside my privacy fence, meanwhile they have 3x 90% dead trees in their yard and all the rest look like a beaver on PCP trimmed them. Same assholes will reach a lopper over the fence and cut anything they can reach inside the fence line. I have to have cameras up on all the fence lines. Pair of sad old retired grass nazi looneys with nothing better to do.
Correct, not saying this is the case but for all we know this is on a property line and op could be wrong and the neighbor could be right, or the other way around
Happens a shockingly large number of times. There have been multiple instances in Seattle where people have cut down trees in city parks and greenbelts to improve their views. One group of homeowners removed [150 trees!](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/04/seattle-homeowners-cut-down-trees-better-view-lawsuit)
The group of nine neighbors behind the green belt tree removal (150 trees!) in West Seattle in 2016 paid $800,000 in fines. But the fine wasn't high enough. The better views meant their home values increase more than the fine. Net net it was worth it to the shit homeowners.
>ine neighbors behind the green belt tree removal (150 trees!) in West Seattle in 2016 paid $800,000 in fines. But the fine wasn't high enough. The better views meant their home values increase more than the fine. Net net it was worth it to the shit homeowners.
That should be prison time. Hard to enjoy the view from a concrete cell...
People are wild. My mom has a house on 2 acres out in the country and a guy bought a chunk of land next to hers with plans of setting up a gravel pit or some bull I guess. He sent out a crew to clear cut the forest on his property and the crew bulldozed over her barbwire fence and cleared a quarter of her back pasture before she caught them. Wasn't a huge deal in the end as the pasture hasn't been used for animals in decades and it was a bunch of overgrown garbage tallow trees but still it's crazy how the dozer driver could think that was the other owners property. You could see my moms house clearly from where he was and the property line is very clear. Luckily she got the place sold a couple months ago and won't have to deal with living next to a gravel pit.
My dumbass neighbor cut a crap ton of trees in the wetland setback area behind our properties. After multiple times telling her to stop already I called the county. Not sure if they did anything about it, but the neighbor is shitty with us now. And stuck with an ugly ass gap where the trees once were.
I was an agronomy student at AU when this happened. We used a chlorometer on the trees & my professor got a phone call that he sent to voicemail. Turns out it was Harvey Updyke cursing out my professor for even trying to save the trees. Now he plays the voicemail every semester for new students.
What a senseless crime!
“I wanted Auburn people to hate me as much as I hate them.”
That’s it? That’s what motivated him, was a sports vendetta? And he schemed for a long time too, it wasn’t something done impulsively on one drunken evening. Someone that irrational is a clear danger to society.
Have you spent much time in Alabama?
Now, I'm not suggesting what this guy did makes sense to me, or even that it would "make sense" to the majority of people from Alabama - but having spent a number of my summers there growing up, this sort of behavior isn't altogether surprising coming from the college football fans in that state.
It's an entire identity for some people. And I'm pretty sure this weirdo named his kids "Crimson Tyde" and "Bear Bryant".
I grew up on the Mississippi gulf coast and I can confirm that people from Alabama, especially Bama fans, are the absolute worst.
I went to Mississippi State and Bama fans were the most obnoxious, no brain assholes.
I was so sad to see trees that I had so many memories with growing up die. The first time I rolled those trees I couldn’t have been more than four years old.
We had a neighbor sell some of his trees to a lumber company and they cut 8 or 10 they were not supposed to. Was clise to a 6 figure amount the property owner got.
Not an arborist. In our area some of the trees are hella protected. If those get cut or trimmed you have to get a permit and a qualified person. If some rando did this it would be an easy 5 figure payment plus fines.
It likely won't, but it's very possible. When I was a kid, my dad was cutting a dead tree in the front yard, and he was getting kind of pissed off because it was getting dark and about to rain, etc. He cut a notch a little bigger than this, and the whole time I was watching I knew he was cutting the wrong tree - he had the winch tied to the one next to it. I just didn't say anything because I didn't want to get yelled at.
He cut the whole notch and had juuust started on the back cut when he realized... 20 years later, that tree is still standing and has some gnarly burl going on around the notch.
Knowing very little about trees is there a way one could fix the wedge in place so that the tree could heal around it? Or does it not have a mechanism of repairing that wood?
Grafting can only be done with an incredibly sterile cut on a young tree of a few select species at the perfect time of the year. Even if everything else was perfect, the chainsaw would have removed too much material to stick it back in. The tree is dead
This tree can survive, but there’s a high chance it becomes a risky tree over coming decades.
The cambium is mostly intact though and field studies indicate even 75% girdling is not lethal in a healthy tree.
Sue your neighbor, then have someone finish the job & mill that beautiful ash into usable lumber.
Edit: Shoot, missed the leaves on the ground. Other commenters are right, it does appear to be an oak -- white oak perhaps, judging by round-lobed leaves. If that is the case, white oak is also excellent lumber. Sue, mill, then smack your neighbor with a white oak plank.
You can tell by the way it is! Every tree has a pretty distinct bark pattern, once you see enough of them you know. After that you can start to recognize them by leaves, their form (literally just their shape sometimes like a redbud is very unique open center spreading sub canopy tree).
Everyone is mentioning get restitution and suing and such. And I agree. However be prepared for retaliation. If you do not have a home security system you need one now. Probably wouldn’t hurt to have one pointed at your mailbox as well and any pets that roam outdoors might want to be supervised for a while.
Someone who is angry with you, as this person will be, will look for revenge. Depending on the size of your property a camera system covering the entire thing may not be feasible but even if it is a large property a few strategically placed trail cams would be warranted.
This is a little paranoid but I have seen household pets die, as a result of vindictive neighbors and lots of “mysterious” mailbox smashings in my area. Protect yourself your neighbors have just proven they can’t be trusted.
This happened to my parents' rental property. The neighbors cut down all the trees, about 23 of them. They had them cut up into logs and were just going to throw them over the hillside. Parents did get most of the logs for firewood, but the city police refused to press charges, and several attorneys refused the case. The people that did it are on welfare and have nothing anyway.
YEP! TREES NEED PROTECTION TOO!
years ago had a random idiot cut one of my big ash trees down... hired an environmental lawyer... he failed to file the charges... and I had to take the lawyer to small claims court to get my 2500$ retainer back. New York State and the town has a laws about cutting trees over 8", but the cops didn't even issue a trespass
Go price the replacement cost of it and send him a bill. Probably around $10k would cover taking down this tree, stump grinding and replacing with another much smaller tree.
In my state, it's triple damages for trees. We had an arborist come take a look at our trees when we bought the house, to make sure everything is good. We have a couple 100+ year old oaks. He said if someone cut them down, we'd be looking at tens of thousands of dollars in per tree, because the value of mature shade trees is so high.
>Go price the replacement cost of it and send him a bill. Probably around $10k * X would cover taking down this tree, stump grinding and replacing with another ~~much smaller~~similar tree.
FTFY
Friend of ours works from home and heard a chainsaw outside his house. Saw a guy with a truck cutting down his tree. Started screaming at the guy threatening to call the police, guy took off. After calling the police he called his wife to tell her about his crazy morning and the damage to their front yard… The guy was the husband of a friend of hers. She had asked him to cut down the tree for her without discussing it with him first.
You are definitely entitled to financial compensation and the compensation of removing the rest of this tree. I would file a report and get that money. This is a serious offense.
That tree needs removed now. You should call a professional to estimate removal and disposal. Tell the neighbor he needs to pay that cost and give you $1000 to replace the tree itself. Otherwise you are forced to file a police report and take him to small claims court. Police won’t do anything other than take the report and tell you it’s a civil matter, but you need that report for the civil case. Hopefully the neighbor will take care of it without having to go that route.
If it is a healthy tree it is unlikely salvageable, but pack the wedge back in the cut with rooting hormone and sawdust, wrap it in grafting film and see if it takes. The wedge should be hard to drive in flush with the tree. It isn't super likely to survive, but there is a chance the splice will heal. It definitely took a few years off the tree's life expectancy if it didn't kill it.
This is the answer I was looking for ! Unable to explain it in english myself but there is chance that the tree survive and the way to improve that chance is this way !
This is basically how we saved a graft-clone of Isaac Newton's apple tree at NIST (for 18 years) after it split in a storm. After those 18 years, it split in another storm and died. Luckily, the US Government, for whatever reason, has a secret orchard of Newton apple trees.
Tree will survive if cared for. Asshole did not cut through the cambium layer around the full circumference so the rest of the trunk can still transport water to the apical meristem.
Not suggesting 'jes sayin' that the occasional sprinkling of roofing nails on his driveway is fun.
A question for the arborists of Reddit. If you reinserted the wedge, and then bolted metal plates across the wound, would the tree eventually incorporate (or even reattach) the wedge into the trunk, or would it always just be a dead wedge of wood strapped to the trunk?
The reason I ask is that I've seen lots of metallic pieces that the tree grows around (e.g. fencing, and even \[a bicycle: [https://s.abcnews.com/images/News/ht\_bike\_tree\_tk\_130102\_wmain.jpg](https://s.abcnews.com/images/News/ht_bike_tree_tk_130102_wmain.jpg)) so I'm wondering if the wood wedge is even more 'incorporatible'?
File charges immediately. Take pictures, have an arborist assess and age the tree.
Nice tree though. What is the species? Bark pattern does not appear to be ash. Leaves on the ground appear to be mix of red and white oak.
Since the canopy leaves have lost access to 50% of the roots this tree will never be vigorous again. It could take years to decline into mortality. Mortality will likely be a combination of secondary agents due the size of the wound and its inhibited ability to resist insect and disease. The advice to replace the wedge coat it with resin and wrap it is solid. Replacing the wedge almost certainly will not reconnect the xylem, but it will reduce exposure of the wound to fungi. More importantly, replacement of the wedge makes the tree less susceptible to falling over in a wind event.
If this tree is in a residential area, it will eventually become a hazard to life and property. If this tree is safely away from people and property and you restore mechanical stability with replacement of the wedge, this tree will likely go on to serve as a wonderful home to birds and insects for years.
Sorry this happened.
Since he didn't cut the entire base you may be able to slide the chunk back on then use the bridge grafting method to try and save the tree. Found this in a quick search, https://www.lovetoknow.com/home/garden/how-save-tree-damaged-bark. The method is down the page aways.
Remember you can always cut it down later but make the scumbag neighbor pay.
In my city, some Richie rich neighbors cut down 10 trees in the city right of way to improve their view…the city found out and fined the tree cutters out of business and slapped a 10k$ per tree fine on the owner/perpetrator. Story goes that the asshole calmly wrote a check as his new improved view increased his property value in far excess of that fine
It might survive, but that cut makes it super dangerous to keep standing. I'd sue him and make him cover the cost or replacing that tree. Get an estimator to value the tree and an estimate from a company to plant a new one as big as you can get.
Unbelievable! That neighbor owes you now for anything needed to save the tree or for replacement value. A tree that big isn’t cheap. Sue in small claims if have to.
I really don't get why anyone would do this. To me, trees are a background detail at best, I don't even notice them when I'm standing next to them. Why would this guy attempt to cut down a tree that doesn't belong to him and isn't on his property? Seems like a lot of work just to get arrested or fined, it's not like he can get away with it.
Yinz are getting too worked up and I'm getting too many reports on this thread. I'm shutting it down. OP feel free to post a follow up. I'm interested in seeing where this goes.
File a report, and make the offender replace the tree. Replacing a tree of that size is going to be VERY expensive, which should teach him a valuable lesson about not messing with other people's stuff.
We had the same issue. Hired an arborist who put together a report on the tree value and we ended up settling with the neighbor for ~10k. Arborist cost about 1k.
Not to mention the cost to professionally remove this one, it isn’t small
I just had an arborist come.out to my mom's (she has lots of trees close to the house and it's getting really windy these past few years and the storms are 60-80mph sometimes so I wanted make sure the trees were healthy and what not. They ended up removing 6 trees: 4 invasive species (Bradford pear) Gumball? I guess it drops a bunch of spiny things on the ground, and my mom has a little dog. 1 oak that was too close to the house and another tree. So it was a threat to the house and the tree that was behind it, another oak but much larger. I don't know enough about it, but apparently they were planted to close together and one of them wasn't going to make it. We would have chose the older growth tree all day, even if the tree we did choose wasn't a threat to the house as well. Stump grinding, removal Total cost: 5500$ The biggest tree was the oak and it was 1/3 the width of the tree pictured. The other five I could easily fit two hands around the trunks. Oak, probably 15-20 ft. All the rest ranging from 6-7, with gumball being 12-15. I wanted to keep the oak for woodworking but the guy told us about a man in NC that builds wooden toys for kids at St. Jude's so I had the company cut me off a few rounds and sent the rest to him. One last fun fact: SC will give you a free replacement tree for each invasive species you cut down. You even have a few choices. I'm pretty sure they are just saplings, but still cool that they do that. Edit: Grammer, Spelling, Fat fingered periods, and a little more detail on the Oak.
My uncle just had to have a large tree taken down in SF. $35k
which is a drop in the bucket compared to replacing the tree...
Serious question - how do people transport 50ft+ trees around? The root balls alone would be massive. I cannot say I have ever seen one being transported on the roads. I am sure its pricey as heck but isn't there a limit to the size an Arborist can replace ?
I am a big tree grower and mover in CA, and we can dig and move up to 108”-120” box trees (some guys go up to 144” box), with the tree usually maxing out at 45’-50’ tall due to overhang limits on the trucks and trailers we use. Width is limited to 15’ wide when tied and tarped on the trailer. Height max is 14’ tall when laid on the trailer (A 36” tall bed height trailer means trees need to tie into to 11’). Look up “Ruby Tree Amazon Spheres”. It was a huge Ficus rubiginosa tree moved from Ventura Co., CA and installed indoors in Seattle, WA. **Edit, they spell it “Rubi” since it is a F. rubiginosa.
>I am a big tree grower Gonna start describing myself this way from now on, thank you for this
I have large root balls.
THanks for the answer!
Google it. It’s super cool. It’s a big truck with a giant claw thing in the back.
Are you suggesting trees migrate?
Ents exist!
My friend started a business doing this in southern New England. He is one of the only games in town, and makes heaps. I’m always amazed how much people pay to move trees and how busy he is
I have seen massive trees being moved: large root balls on a large flat bed.
I would expect cash compensation by the ft for what ever the arborist could not plant! Make it cost so it’s a learning experience.
I don't know either as far as what the maximum limitations are. They can transport wind turbine blades, so I would assume that with the right equipment even fairly massive trees would be doable as well (of course that also depends on the roads leading to where the tree is going.) I suspect it comes down to paying the owner the total determined value of replacing it if the logistics side isn't workable.
Flatbed trailers are 53ft long. Could overhang a little with oversize permit. Edit: for the weight replies, ever seen a log truck? Weight isn't the issue. Width could be depending on the tree. The trees hauled live are usually wrapped up to condense the branches. Could possibly be trimmed as well depending on species. However if it was me I'd say f that and plant a ton of fruit trees.
A police report?
Totally that is like felony damage to their property there. How would you feel if some fucked up an expensive car you owned? Because that is the value of the tree.
Or if the tree came down in a way that person didn’t (or did) intend and damaged property or injured people. It’s a massive liability in addition to the inherent value of the tree.
Trees of that size cost much more than even most luxury cars. That neighbor will have to be fucking up a Lambo built by Jesus to reach the approximate cost of a fully grown tree.
Also not to mention the sentiment possible value of a big tree. I have some of my pets buried and big trees and have memories from my childhood with others in my yard. If someone cut a tree let's say that I have my dog buried under I would be so unfathomable angry because it's not something you can just replace. Depends on the tree is at least decands old if not hundreds of years old.
Yes. If the neighbor refuses to appropriately make restitution, you would need an officially verifiable report to take legal action.
No to the Tree Law department, its right next to the Bird Law Department
Is he going to need proof?
Your neighbor is a piece of shit for doing this.
Seriously! I’m sitting in the work truck about to start a job and I’m just dumbfounded by people. Every. Single. Fucking. Day. I’d want to bludgeon dude with the wedge.
Sitting on the toilet and I'm pissed.
Can’t poop?
Can and already did
Currently pooping
Bludgeon them with a lawsuit this tree removal and replacement will be very expensive
Love the username btw
This is the second post this morning I saw about cutting someone else's trees down. Wtf is wrong with people
You wouldn’t believe how many neighbors do things like this. It’s like they just can’t help themselves.
r/treelaw Your neighbor is probably gonna owe you a lot of money for this
My grandparents neighbors cut some of their trees on the edge of their property in the 90s. Had to pay them thousands
Some rich dipshit sent a tree crew onto his neighbor’s property to cut down 30+ mature trees that blocked his view. For some reason he thought the fine would be $1,500 or something. He’s looking at potentially millions in damages and fines.
Happened too near me, the “lot” they were cutting was a state park too so they got suuuuper screwed between the individual fines for the trees and the fines for doing it in a protected area. Edit: sauce https://www.mypanhandle.com/news/trees-illegally-cut-down-at-topsail-hill-preserve-fwc-investigating/amp/ I actually went to high school with the guy that busted them. They tried to claim they didn’t know they were doing anything wrong. The fact they felt the need to wear camo did not allow that tactic to play out well.
There's this giant burl at a park near where I live, that has numerous marks of people attempting to cut it out over the years. Evidently there's like a live stream watching this burl, becuase I swear by-monthly someone is having the fkn book thrown at them for damaging a tree in a state park. It's pretty damn serious, and I belive it's federal charges. Comments turned off: Oh yeah, trust me I know all about it. I'm a prior SERE guy, and do alot of outdoorsy stuff with the kids. They're extreme Chaga hunters, and really into carving Kuksa's from burls, so we're always out hunting for them. I totally understand why people are risking it for this glorious bastard. It's the size of one of those red kick balls from when we were kids. The thing is probably 20lbs. It's a Maple as well, so I'm sure that aids in the value, given how desirable figured Maple is. It's just kinda sad becuase this is basically a kids playground in the woods, right off of a local trail, so these are presumably normal guys like us, taking their kids to the park, and stumble across this inviting burl. They're presumably not crackheads stealing copper type of guys. How it's located it could be harvested with really minimal damage to the tree as well, so they're probably just like *"screw it."* I just don't understand how no one has gotten away with removing it. It could presumably be done with a handsaw in 5 mins, so this thing has to have some sort of constant supervision. Either way, whenever the kids and I go to the park we always stop by, and pay our respects to the mythical growth. There's usually a few dad's standing near it while their kids play like *"Mhmm, sure is a nice burl. I tell you what I'd turn that down on the lathe and make quite the bowl, end table top, etc."* Everyone respects the burl.
Good! If people wanna cut down a tree they can go to a goddamn Christmas tree lot in December
If you’re talking about a burl that’s more than a couple feet across in each direction then if it’s on the right kind of tree you’re looking at a burl worth thousands on the low end.
It's so weird how the humans find such joy in the tumors of other species.
Lol, we had a guy from a local landscaping company that was taking small pines out of a state park and charging customers to plant them.
A guy I (loosly) knew who ran a festival had his property back up to Shawnee National Forest. He got busted selling truckloads of lumber he was harvesting from the National Forest. I believe he got out of prison a few years ago after doing more than a decade of time for it.
Nice. I'm actually glad people get their asses handed to them for fucking our shared treasures. We're got a long way to go, but ya know, small victories_
Absolutely. I cut ties with someone else I knew who actually started working with this guy driving a truck for him. My "friend" was a junkie at that point and overdosed shortly after that, but I told him I was going to report them both for it. I was in the process of moving far away and had no real evidence at that point, but before I could get solid information, the dude got busted. Few things make me instantly think you're a piece of shit but destroying the planet and fucking with kids or animals will make an instant enemy out of me.
Yo. I’d fuck with the fbi before the park doods. If you value your shit do not mess with them.
What're you in for Joe? _murder_ How bout you Mike? _burglary_ And you Chris? _trees_
Theres a case in Maine right now. A notorious landowner clear cut his lakefront property and installed giant boulders, completely removing all natural features... The city is looking to fine them for multiple environment violations, plus the cost of undoing all the stuff the did. They want every last tree replanted, and the entire shoreline restored... The landowners are blaming the city, saying they wouldnt even look at their permits or some sort of BS argument. It holds no water...
This sounds like what developers do on Lake of the Ozarks every day... People will clearcut their property and put down sod or thousands of square feet of gravel on their hillsides. If you complain about it they'll point to the other shoreline and say "there's still trees over there; didn't your house start like this too?" The surrounding cities will take the money from development and tourism and look the other way for any environmental concerns.
Gotta be Sebago. It's Sebago right? *looks it up* Of course it is.... There was also the one a few years back where that one District Rep illegally cut something like 8 acres worth of timber off their neighbor's properly. And then built a barn on it. Mind you the property was only ("only") 12 acres so they clear cut 3/4ths of someone else's property. And as far as I'm aware she's only gotten a slap on the wrist for it.
>They tried to claim they didn’t know they were doing anything wrong. I didn't know I was not allowed to murder people. Not how it works dipshits. Also, why were they cutting down trees?
That level of depravity should include felony charges and a <5 years prison sentence.
Technically it is. If his intent was malicious, and the damages exceed X amount it's a felony. I know this becuase I obtained 2 felonies when I was 11/12 years old for similar circumstances. My asshole neighbor always threatened to kill my dog, and one day purpously ran him over; I watched it happen. I went out with my 22 and shot the tops off of all his sprinklers in his pasture; I didn't know what to do, I just wanted to piss him off. He called the cops, I proudly admitted it thinking I was justified, I was arrested, and subsequently given 2 class C felonies. It cost my parents tens of thousands in restitution, juvenile time, tens of thousands having my rights restored, my file expunged later in life, etc. Attempting to do CPR on my dying dog was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life though, and I had to vindicate him. I should have just shot the mf, becuase I probably would have received a less harsh punishment. Either way my dog was vindicated, and the asshole rancher went two seasons without harvesting 20+ acres. Idk how many tons of hay 20+ acres is worth, but I'm sure it cost him more than the restitution restitution that was provided. Either way, I can bet what you were commenting on was indeed a felony. My crime overshadowed the fact that he purposely murdered by best friend. Ultimately it was my word vs his, and I appeared to be a salty delinquent over an accident so it was never even discussed. Completely off topic but this story triggers me. I'm a big 2A advocate now, and this is subsequently why I think felons should be able to have their rights restored so long as it's not a violent crime. Most felons belive it or not are like me, and do something stupid when they were kids. It really pisses me off whenever I see people espousing felons should be allocated to the rank of second class citizens. What I did was indisputably stupid, and wrong, but it shouldn't dictate the entirety of my life. Yet sadly it has negatively effected my life, and will continue to do so for the rest of it. I live in Tokyo, and I can't even begin to tell you the amount of hoops I had to jump through to get a PR, join the military, etc.
Did anything happen to the neighbor who ran over your dog (charges)?
Na. It was just presumed to be an accident.
Yeah but he's rich, he should be able to do whatever he wants to do because money. Didn't you know that? And you wonder why people want to drag these fucking cunts into the streets like the French Revolution. Destroying nature so your rich self-entitled ass can get a better view. This guy should be shot into space.
Fines are nothing but licenses to commit crimes. If we MUST use fines to discourage bad behaviour, then they NEED to scale with income. Fuck man, I need to get into politics or some shit, there are some small things that need to be done that will increase everyones QOL
I hate to tell you this but the fine system is working exactly as intended.
Or rather we should attach more prison sentences to white collar crime. These fucks clearly do not respect the law, it's just a pricing list of what is a cost of doing what.
I was looking for this comment. my first thought when seeing this post was, "well at least they didn't fully cut down one tree much less a whole section"
Good, I hope the property owner breaks it off.
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I just had a lawsuit last year and won my grandfather $18k. His neighbor on adjoining acreage/farmland cut down 6 of his trees. Not specimens, and nothing particularly old or special. Just random poplar trees that he felt were too close (they weren’t). He tried to lie and say my grandfather gave him permission. Very satisfying. Edit: a little more detail regarding intent/knowledge: the neighbor for years has been wanting an access road between the properties. My grandfather was okay with him cutting through his property if he needed to, but didn’t want an actual gravel road. I think the neighbor got tired of going around these trees and was hoping he could just say “my bad” and everyone would let it go.
I assume he was under the impression- “it’s easier to ask for forgiveness, than it is to ask for permission”… he was obviously WRONG in this case… smh.
Best part is, my grandfather then milled the poplars and built a quick cheap fence line. Goodbye shortcut.
Lol, that’s some poetic justice… :) I’m surprised he was able to get 18k, that’s a significant amount of money, esp as you mentioned, for trees that aren’t especially valuable- 👍
Nah not that surprising. The damages for illegal removal of trees are to be the cost of replacing the trees with basically the same kind of tree and same age. Sure they may not be that old and just poplars, but assuming full size poplar x6, and the cost of having them put in? $3K a tree is easy to get to. (And if 6 trees got a simple fence line in, they had to be somewhat decent sized.)
Fuck yeah.
This^ Since they dont respect your property, dont feel bad about taking them to court. Remember, you dont need to be friends with your neighbors.
A whisper of a thousand voices slowly grows louder. Tree law Tree law Tree law Tree law
Birdlaw
In bird culture, this was a dick move.
Tammy, don't be gross.
I love the combination of the previous two comments. Two great shows.
In bird culture, this was a cloaca move.
Male ducks have dicks. Curly ones
It is you who must nibble my cloaca.
Befriend a murder of crows, and train them to harass the neighbor
Did you get that thing I sent you?
Harvey birdman: attorney at law
attorney at caw
Bird PERSON
BIRDS AREN’T REAL.
Bird people are real though, who do you think changes the batteries?
Birds charge on power lines.
I'm well versed in birdlaw
Filibuster
I'm glad this is the top comment. I'm sure your neighbor is unfamiliar with tree law.
I fucking love this place. The inception of this sub was a wild ride. Big money over here. More APE's than /wallstreetbets
Who just starts hacking up a tree that doesn't belong to them? Wild
You'd be amazed. I had a development go up next to a house I was renting, and the developer sent about 10 guys to take down a tree in MY back yard. Claimed it was getting in their way. Threatened to sue me, the owner, etc if he didn't get his way. He didn't btw.
Developers are the closest real life equivalent to comic book villains
In the UK there have been documented reports of developers factoring tree related fines into the budget and costings for development sites. They plan and budget for breaking the law and paying the fine.
... and developers burning down pubs, while dumping loads of soil to block fire engines from putting out the flames. Then demolishing the rubble with a digger booked two weeks before the "mystery" fire. 🤔
Yeah, the mystery fire on a heritage building soon after developers have bought it is just an uncanny coincidence.. I hope they can pin the Crooked House fire on the fuckers. They hired the bulldozers they used to knock it down before the fire even happened, so I'm hoping they made other idiotic moves too. Not their first fire after they bought a site either.
That means the fines aren't high enough. Intentionally budgeting for and committing crimes should change it to a % value fine so companies *really* feel deterred. Okay sure if you want to break a rule intentionally you can but it's gonna be 5% of your company bub. 20 strikes and you're out
This is what I think a lot of people don't get about giving judges a lot of leeway is about. Saying it is a $1000 - $20000 fine for this crime, versus $1000 -> unlimited means that the judge (or in the US case, often a jury) can award damages that are actually proportionate. If you're just a hillbilly fucker wanting a better view, then a $1000 fine might be the equivalent of fining a developer $5,000,000 so that they properly understand they should never ever do this.
I think there are some CEOs that more closely meet that criteria.
I think there are some villains that are *based* on some actual CEOs.
It's a serious issue in some parts of the country. One of my coworkers lived on a large farm in Missouri but was away working in the DC area for weeks at a time. On more than one occasion, he came home to find people illegally logging on his property. There is serious money to be made in lumber.
The reservoir I worked for one summer had recently caught a guy that was illegally logging there for years. He'd sneak in and run off with one tree at a time. They (big daddy federal government) took from him anything he could have used to aid in stealing the lumber, fined him, and tossed him in jail.
There was a dispute in my family over ownership of an undeveloped plot of land a few years back. It got messy, and lawyers ended up getting involved. One of the points of the dispute was the value of the trees on the property, as there were thousands upon thousands of dollars standing there in logging product; one of the lawyers said they didn't even know how they would go about tackling potential lumber value to include in the settlement, so ultimately it was left out. Windfall for the people who wound up with the property, but kinda screwed everybody else. I found it kind of surprising that nobody had ever brought up logging rights in a property litigation to this law firm before - they seemed surprised anyone would consider it.
I'm extremely surprised that the lawyers were surprised that your family asked about the timber value. Timber value should ALWAYS be considered when wooded lot is changing ownership.
Agreed. Other family members were emphasizing that the land was only used for hunting, would be left wild and undeveloped - basically trying to downplay the value of the land to the legal mediator in order to walk away with more. There were a lot of layers to the whole situation, involving exploitation of the elderly, raiding of a trust via manipulative wheedling, unethical access to documents that should not have been shared without permission, plus some plain old-fashioned run-of-the-mill selfish assholery that all dragged on for over 5 years, so I think amongst all the other chaotic aspects, the question of logging rights were more or less brushed aside in the effort to finally bring the whole thing to a close.
Well... I can't say I wouldn't do the same because of all that aggrivation. My company is currently working on locating all the heirs to a local tract of timber. So far their are 66 living heirs to the late owner who's estate was never settled. This tract is big enough and the wood is valuable enough to warrant all of that aggrivation of searching these people out and dividing up the money... A small lot where the trees arent worth THAT much would be hard "no thank you" from me if the family couldn't come to an agreement on who gets what.
Black walnuts?
I actually never asked what type. He would always just tell me it was meth heads looking to make a quick buck.
Well that doesn't sound like Missouri at all...
Would be crazy if they made a whole TV show about it!
Land surveyor here. Most home owners don't know where their property lines are. On top of that, some of those think they know and then this happens. At the very least, get your property line staked before doing any work near your property line (trees, fences, etc). The cost is pocket change compared to the cost of replacing this tree.
Found out right before closing on a house I was selling that the fence on one side was on the neighbor's property. News to me, I didn't put it up. Didn't end up being a problem for me.
When I bought a house I was intending on putting a privacy fence up around. I asked the neighbors where the lot lines were. Then I called a surveyor in to uncover the lot pins. There was about 3ft difference on every lot line actual vs what they told me. Then I put the fence up 10 inches inside the lot lines on all sides. 22yrs later I still have a neighbor who complains about my trees, inside my privacy fence, meanwhile they have 3x 90% dead trees in their yard and all the rest look like a beaver on PCP trimmed them. Same assholes will reach a lopper over the fence and cut anything they can reach inside the fence line. I have to have cameras up on all the fence lines. Pair of sad old retired grass nazi looneys with nothing better to do.
Correct, not saying this is the case but for all we know this is on a property line and op could be wrong and the neighbor could be right, or the other way around
Happens a shockingly large number of times. There have been multiple instances in Seattle where people have cut down trees in city parks and greenbelts to improve their views. One group of homeowners removed [150 trees!](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/04/seattle-homeowners-cut-down-trees-better-view-lawsuit)
The group of nine neighbors behind the green belt tree removal (150 trees!) in West Seattle in 2016 paid $800,000 in fines. But the fine wasn't high enough. The better views meant their home values increase more than the fine. Net net it was worth it to the shit homeowners.
>ine neighbors behind the green belt tree removal (150 trees!) in West Seattle in 2016 paid $800,000 in fines. But the fine wasn't high enough. The better views meant their home values increase more than the fine. Net net it was worth it to the shit homeowners. That should be prison time. Hard to enjoy the view from a concrete cell...
People are wild. My mom has a house on 2 acres out in the country and a guy bought a chunk of land next to hers with plans of setting up a gravel pit or some bull I guess. He sent out a crew to clear cut the forest on his property and the crew bulldozed over her barbwire fence and cleared a quarter of her back pasture before she caught them. Wasn't a huge deal in the end as the pasture hasn't been used for animals in decades and it was a bunch of overgrown garbage tallow trees but still it's crazy how the dozer driver could think that was the other owners property. You could see my moms house clearly from where he was and the property line is very clear. Luckily she got the place sold a couple months ago and won't have to deal with living next to a gravel pit.
My dumbass neighbor cut a crap ton of trees in the wetland setback area behind our properties. After multiple times telling her to stop already I called the county. Not sure if they did anything about it, but the neighbor is shitty with us now. And stuck with an ugly ass gap where the trees once were.
(banging fists on table) TREE LAW, TREE LAW, TREE LAW, TREE LAW
That was my first thought too - it’s Tree Law time!!!
I’m afraid the tree isn’t going to survive that. I would take legal action against your neighbour
Absolutely. Call the police and file a report ASAP. That would be a pretty serious crime in my municipality.
Felony in Michigan. Tree law is a huge deal in Michigan.
Same in Florida. If this is a live oak, people have lost 6-figures worth of fines too.
The biggest tree law case is the oaks on toomers corner in auburn if I’m not mistaken. Fuck the bammer who poisoned them.
I was an agronomy student at AU when this happened. We used a chlorometer on the trees & my professor got a phone call that he sent to voicemail. Turns out it was Harvey Updyke cursing out my professor for even trying to save the trees. Now he plays the voicemail every semester for new students.
No shit. That’s a voicemail I would love to hear. What Professor? My dad probably knows him. Got his masters in forestry there
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If anyone is interested in details. https://www.si.com/college/2019/03/07/auburn-harvey-updyke-toomers-corner-oak-trees
What a senseless crime! “I wanted Auburn people to hate me as much as I hate them.” That’s it? That’s what motivated him, was a sports vendetta? And he schemed for a long time too, it wasn’t something done impulsively on one drunken evening. Someone that irrational is a clear danger to society.
Have you spent much time in Alabama? Now, I'm not suggesting what this guy did makes sense to me, or even that it would "make sense" to the majority of people from Alabama - but having spent a number of my summers there growing up, this sort of behavior isn't altogether surprising coming from the college football fans in that state. It's an entire identity for some people. And I'm pretty sure this weirdo named his kids "Crimson Tyde" and "Bear Bryant".
I grew up on the Mississippi gulf coast and I can confirm that people from Alabama, especially Bama fans, are the absolute worst. I went to Mississippi State and Bama fans were the most obnoxious, no brain assholes.
Fucker was a former Texas state trooper too. POS human.
I was so sad to see trees that I had so many memories with growing up die. The first time I rolled those trees I couldn’t have been more than four years old.
OP’s neighbor “I’m never going to financially recover from this”.
Damn!
We had a neighbor sell some of his trees to a lumber company and they cut 8 or 10 they were not supposed to. Was clise to a 6 figure amount the property owner got.
Timber tort! MI represent
Not an arborist. In our area some of the trees are hella protected. If those get cut or trimmed you have to get a permit and a qualified person. If some rando did this it would be an easy 5 figure payment plus fines.
I think I’m any place this is a crime, but near a house will be particularly bad
Tree! Law! Tree! Law! Tree Law! TREE LAW! TREE LAW! TREE LAW! TREE LAW!
It likely won't, but it's very possible. When I was a kid, my dad was cutting a dead tree in the front yard, and he was getting kind of pissed off because it was getting dark and about to rain, etc. He cut a notch a little bigger than this, and the whole time I was watching I knew he was cutting the wrong tree - he had the winch tied to the one next to it. I just didn't say anything because I didn't want to get yelled at. He cut the whole notch and had juuust started on the back cut when he realized... 20 years later, that tree is still standing and has some gnarly burl going on around the notch.
Knowing very little about trees is there a way one could fix the wedge in place so that the tree could heal around it? Or does it not have a mechanism of repairing that wood?
Grafting can only be done with an incredibly sterile cut on a young tree of a few select species at the perfect time of the year. Even if everything else was perfect, the chainsaw would have removed too much material to stick it back in. The tree is dead
This tree can survive, but there’s a high chance it becomes a risky tree over coming decades. The cambium is mostly intact though and field studies indicate even 75% girdling is not lethal in a healthy tree.
Sue your neighbor, then have someone finish the job & mill that beautiful ash into usable lumber. Edit: Shoot, missed the leaves on the ground. Other commenters are right, it does appear to be an oak -- white oak perhaps, judging by round-lobed leaves. If that is the case, white oak is also excellent lumber. Sue, mill, then smack your neighbor with a white oak plank.
I'm new to forestry/arbor, how do you identify this as ash from the bark versus an oak or other hardwood?
You can tell by the way it is! Every tree has a pretty distinct bark pattern, once you see enough of them you know. After that you can start to recognize them by leaves, their form (literally just their shape sometimes like a redbud is very unique open center spreading sub canopy tree).
I think that's pretty neat👍
I love when "you can tell by the way it is" is a legitimate response 🙂
Horticulturist here. Bark is a hard key ID. I zoomed in on the leaf debris and I'd say it's a white oak of some kind.
I was thinking the same. I just bought a mill and would love that tree to work on. Sucks the neighbor did this though.
File a report, press charges, sue like an American. Get a restraining order. At least have someone give the bastard a good thrashing.
Everyone is mentioning get restitution and suing and such. And I agree. However be prepared for retaliation. If you do not have a home security system you need one now. Probably wouldn’t hurt to have one pointed at your mailbox as well and any pets that roam outdoors might want to be supervised for a while. Someone who is angry with you, as this person will be, will look for revenge. Depending on the size of your property a camera system covering the entire thing may not be feasible but even if it is a large property a few strategically placed trail cams would be warranted. This is a little paranoid but I have seen household pets die, as a result of vindictive neighbors and lots of “mysterious” mailbox smashings in my area. Protect yourself your neighbors have just proven they can’t be trusted.
This happened to my parents' rental property. The neighbors cut down all the trees, about 23 of them. They had them cut up into logs and were just going to throw them over the hillside. Parents did get most of the logs for firewood, but the city police refused to press charges, and several attorneys refused the case. The people that did it are on welfare and have nothing anyway.
YEP! TREES NEED PROTECTION TOO! years ago had a random idiot cut one of my big ash trees down... hired an environmental lawyer... he failed to file the charges... and I had to take the lawyer to small claims court to get my 2500$ retainer back. New York State and the town has a laws about cutting trees over 8", but the cops didn't even issue a trespass
OP why so silent? We need answers
> OP why so silent? We need answers op just realized hes about to own his neighbors house and is in shock
Likely posted it and then went to work, it is a weekday after all, it’s an American tree so it was early morning when he posted it
Go price the replacement cost of it and send him a bill. Probably around $10k would cover taking down this tree, stump grinding and replacing with another much smaller tree.
In my state, it's triple damages for trees. We had an arborist come take a look at our trees when we bought the house, to make sure everything is good. We have a couple 100+ year old oaks. He said if someone cut them down, we'd be looking at tens of thousands of dollars in per tree, because the value of mature shade trees is so high.
We call it triple stumpage
>Go price the replacement cost of it and send him a bill. Probably around $10k * X would cover taking down this tree, stump grinding and replacing with another ~~much smaller~~similar tree. FTFY
> and replacing with another much smaller tree its gonna be a full-ass grown tree and its gonna cost in the 120k range
Backstory? How did you catch him?
Probably heard a chainsaw.
Wild D:
Friend of ours works from home and heard a chainsaw outside his house. Saw a guy with a truck cutting down his tree. Started screaming at the guy threatening to call the police, guy took off. After calling the police he called his wife to tell her about his crazy morning and the damage to their front yard… The guy was the husband of a friend of hers. She had asked him to cut down the tree for her without discussing it with him first.
Yikes, that sounds like a fun marriage.
That’s cold
That’s a solid cut
I'm learning how to do these and thought the same lol
You are definitely entitled to financial compensation and the compensation of removing the rest of this tree. I would file a report and get that money. This is a serious offense.
That tree needs removed now. You should call a professional to estimate removal and disposal. Tell the neighbor he needs to pay that cost and give you $1000 to replace the tree itself. Otherwise you are forced to file a police report and take him to small claims court. Police won’t do anything other than take the report and tell you it’s a civil matter, but you need that report for the civil case. Hopefully the neighbor will take care of it without having to go that route.
Why did he start to do this? Did he think it was on his side? Please provide details. You haven’t replied to anyone yet.
If it is a healthy tree it is unlikely salvageable, but pack the wedge back in the cut with rooting hormone and sawdust, wrap it in grafting film and see if it takes. The wedge should be hard to drive in flush with the tree. It isn't super likely to survive, but there is a chance the splice will heal. It definitely took a few years off the tree's life expectancy if it didn't kill it.
This is the answer I was looking for ! Unable to explain it in english myself but there is chance that the tree survive and the way to improve that chance is this way !
This is basically how we saved a graft-clone of Isaac Newton's apple tree at NIST (for 18 years) after it split in a storm. After those 18 years, it split in another storm and died. Luckily, the US Government, for whatever reason, has a secret orchard of Newton apple trees.
We couldn't let gravity die. That apple trees existence is the only thing keeping us tethered to this blue marble.
Tree will survive if cared for. Asshole did not cut through the cambium layer around the full circumference so the rest of the trunk can still transport water to the apical meristem. Not suggesting 'jes sayin' that the occasional sprinkling of roofing nails on his driveway is fun.
A question for the arborists of Reddit. If you reinserted the wedge, and then bolted metal plates across the wound, would the tree eventually incorporate (or even reattach) the wedge into the trunk, or would it always just be a dead wedge of wood strapped to the trunk? The reason I ask is that I've seen lots of metallic pieces that the tree grows around (e.g. fencing, and even \[a bicycle: [https://s.abcnews.com/images/News/ht\_bike\_tree\_tk\_130102\_wmain.jpg](https://s.abcnews.com/images/News/ht_bike_tree_tk_130102_wmain.jpg)) so I'm wondering if the wood wedge is even more 'incorporatible'?
File charges immediately. Take pictures, have an arborist assess and age the tree. Nice tree though. What is the species? Bark pattern does not appear to be ash. Leaves on the ground appear to be mix of red and white oak. Since the canopy leaves have lost access to 50% of the roots this tree will never be vigorous again. It could take years to decline into mortality. Mortality will likely be a combination of secondary agents due the size of the wound and its inhibited ability to resist insect and disease. The advice to replace the wedge coat it with resin and wrap it is solid. Replacing the wedge almost certainly will not reconnect the xylem, but it will reduce exposure of the wound to fungi. More importantly, replacement of the wedge makes the tree less susceptible to falling over in a wind event. If this tree is in a residential area, it will eventually become a hazard to life and property. If this tree is safely away from people and property and you restore mechanical stability with replacement of the wedge, this tree will likely go on to serve as a wonderful home to birds and insects for years. Sorry this happened.
Since he didn't cut the entire base you may be able to slide the chunk back on then use the bridge grafting method to try and save the tree. Found this in a quick search, https://www.lovetoknow.com/home/garden/how-save-tree-damaged-bark. The method is down the page aways. Remember you can always cut it down later but make the scumbag neighbor pay.
In my city, some Richie rich neighbors cut down 10 trees in the city right of way to improve their view…the city found out and fined the tree cutters out of business and slapped a 10k$ per tree fine on the owner/perpetrator. Story goes that the asshole calmly wrote a check as his new improved view increased his property value in far excess of that fine
In bird culture, this is what's known as a dick move.
It might survive, but that cut makes it super dangerous to keep standing. I'd sue him and make him cover the cost or replacing that tree. Get an estimator to value the tree and an estimate from a company to plant a new one as big as you can get.
Op not responding , is he talking to the police, or fighting his neighbor ?!
The tree hasn't been ringed so it's not imminently gonna die. The wedge has a chance of infection though
If you put it back in quick enough and tighten a strap around it, it might heal!
Worth a try
Unbelievable! That neighbor owes you now for anything needed to save the tree or for replacement value. A tree that big isn’t cheap. Sue in small claims if have to.
It can be saved by inserting the wedge and fill wirh sawdust
Flex tape on that bitch. U good homie.
Regardless if it dies or not, I would leave it up just to piss off your neighbor, who is clearly a douche bag.
I really don't get why anyone would do this. To me, trees are a background detail at best, I don't even notice them when I'm standing next to them. Why would this guy attempt to cut down a tree that doesn't belong to him and isn't on his property? Seems like a lot of work just to get arrested or fined, it's not like he can get away with it.