Firewood theft and paranoia

[Engineer]

Is it just me, or do I have a reason to be paranoid?  I am worried about people stealing firewood.  While they haven't outright come on my property to take anything yet, I do worry that it's gonna happen eventually, especially given fuel prices.  The Town and the power company recently cut a lot of trees on my road to make "improvements" and if I wasn't literally waiting for them to pack up their gear and go home, I would have had all the wood from my side of the road stolen before dawn.  It almost seems like some people drive around looking for power company trimmings, it's no effort for them to stop, jump out and toss some logs in the truck, and drive off.  Not like the landowner's likely to prosecute, especially with trees in the right-of-way, but still, it annoys me.  I feel like I have to hide my firewood, make it difficult for someone to back a truck up to the pile or it will disappear in the middle of the night.   I've also seen guys jump out of a truck and actually whip out a chainsaw, cut up stuff that was too big to lift, and I KNOW it wasn't their land.  And I'm not just talking about side-of-the-road stuff either.  I asked the town to leave everything they cut in tree length, but sooner or later someone's gonna see it still sitting there and make off with it.

Should I be worried?  Do any of you have recurring theft problems with your firewood stacks?  What do you do?  The most convenient place for me to stack my wood is also the easiest place for some hillbilly thief to get to. 

[metalspinner]

I would guess that most of the "thieves" are just guys thinking the wood on side of the road is waiting to be picked up by the city.  I am always an ask-first kind of guy, though.  Try putting a sign on your pile that the wood is personal property.  That will stop the honest guys out there.  Not much you can do about the dishonest ones, however.

[flip]

Post a sign by your wood pile:  Warning!! Some of this wood has been packed with black powder, steal at your own risk  

Seriously, sounds like knuckle heads around here.  At the land fill the city guys get all the good wood and the rest they bury so no one else can have it.  Tried to work a deal with them one time it was like talking to a, well, stump. :

[beenthere]

I'd move the wood away from the road, and onto my own land...if faced with the same dilema.

As mentioned, what lays in the road right of way, may seem like free wood to some..signs, or no signs.

[Engineer]

Moving the wood onto my own land won't necessarily stop them.  That's why I have been trying to hide the firewood - if it's near the end of my driveway, which is out of direct sight of the house, it's likely to disappear. 

Funny that two of you guys mention "city workers" - the Town employees do most of the cutting, and they either don't want it or have been directed not to take it.  Evidently, if they had free rein to take the chunks they wanted, a lot of trees that would not ordinarily be cut, would wind up gone.   So it's technically the landowner's wood, but people that drive by think it's up for grabs.  I would never do that.

A couple years ago we had a bad snow/ice storm and a 20" dbh hornbeam dropped across the road in front of my neighbor's house.   This was at 8 pm on a Sunday and the Town was out there within 20 minutes to clear the road.  Both the neighbor and I showed up at about the same time, me on my way to the firehouse and the neighbor to see what the commotion was about.  I asked her if I could have the tree, since it was technically on her property, and she didn't have the wherewithal to hack it up herself.  She said sure, only trade me a few pieces of it for the fireplace. 

Next day I drive through - the tree was GONE.  Someone took all the tops, and it wasn't her, me or the Town guys.  All that was left was two huge butt sections, one with the stump attached and the other with 15-20 branch knots.  Something the culprit apparently couldn't pick up.

[leweee]

I'd move the wood away from the road, and onto my own land...if faced with the same dilema.

and out of sight from the road(out of sight ,out of mind) if they can see it. they will want to steal it. :

As mentioned, what lays in the road right of way, may seem like free wood to some..signs, or no signs.

in my area if there are any complaints about firewood ownership on the right of way, the municipality scoops it and grinds it for mulch.(kind of like the "Firewood Nazis" no firewood for you) :

And a little paranoia is a Good thing when it comes down to your energy resources this day and age. ;)

[beenthere]

Moving the wood onto my own land won't necessarily stop them.  ................

While they haven't outright come on my property to take anything yet,........

  Then you may have a 'paranoia' problem, as you first mentioned.   

If it is stolen, then you have something to worry about. IMO, I wouldn't until then. Life is too short to worry about all that might happen. 

[Engineer]

OK, I'm paranoid.   :D smiley_anxious

[Toolman]

Post a sign by your wood pile:  Warning!! Some of this wood has been packed with black powder, steal at your own risk  

Seriously, sounds like knuckle heads around here.  At the land fill the city guys get all the good wood and the rest they bury so no one else can have it.  Tried to work a deal with them one time it was like talking to a, well, stump. :

Thats a good one flip.  :D   :D I just might do that, if you give me the ok to use your line.  ;D

I joked with my wife about putting a chain linked fence and lpadlocked gate around my 20 cords of locust(split and dry).  Maybe it was'nt much of a joke after all.  :-\

[John Bartley]

I guess I'll be the one to stick his neck out and ask .... just what are the laws regarding wood left lying beside the roadway, on property that is municipal? Many years ago the local township guys took down a bunch of trees, maple, oak and white pine that were on the municipal right of way (in the ditch beside the road). Some of these were very large, and as they took them down they blocked them to 16" and took them away. My Dad asked them where it was going and they said that one of the township guys had a sideline selling firewood.... They asked him if he'd like them to move the wood into our yard and he said "no", and said he'd pick it up after hours. He took away a couple of wagon loads of nice firewood. The tone of the conversation seemed to indicate that the adjacent landowner had first right of refusal, but that it was an unwritten rule. Does anybody know what the actual law says in their area?

just curious

John

[stonebroke]

In our town the town has a right of way, That means I still own the land(and pay taxes on it) and anything on that right orf way is mine.

Stonebroke

[SwampDonkey]

Anything on ROW of power line here is the landowners wood unless it's road side and within the 66 foot crown reserve, then it's government owned wood. Some power line lands however are owned by the power company with a designated/surveyed property corridor. I can think of one such line off the top of my head.


On the other hand, firewood theft is quite common and mostly unreported because the sticks don't have serial numbers on them and whose going to afford a DNA test?

I've had wood stolen in small quantities. The neighbor stole wood every year for at least 10 years and went poaching at night time by tractor and light. The last he stole was Christmas Eve 2006 before selling the farm and moving into town. He's one of these types that butchered his firewood lot to pay the bills and didn't think firewood should be paid for.

[mike_van]

When fuel oil goes over 5.00/gal this winter, I'm sure we'll be reading about woodpiles being robbed.  People even steal Christmas trees, how sad is that?   A few places around I've read about new houses having all the copper wire stolen the day after it was run in -  Seems like nothings safe anymore.

[badpenny]

   I don't know about anywhere else, but Minnesota statute states that the landowner whose property an easement crosses owns anything 3 " or larger at ground level. This pertains to road ROW's.  Permission to cut must be obtained from the landowner, and disposal must be in accordance with the landowners wishes. My wishes have always been 16" long, and piled in my yard, even if only dumped out of a truck. I can split and stack once it has been put where the clearing crew can dump it.

[Don P]

We had a yahoo driving up and down our road cutting trees alongside. I don't mean little trees. I kept seeing fresh stumps and really spooky cuts, I figured I'd find him one day. My neighbor met him first. The guy claimed to have the right to cut anything within 20' of the right of way since that was public property. Things were explained to him a little different, he hasn't made it back. The non residents lose alot of roadside trees here.

[Ironwood]

Times are tough, folks are becoming enboldened. We have heard of lots of broaddaylight scrap stealing, I am sure firewood is next.

Ironwood

[TexasTimbers]

.... really spooky cuts. . . .

:D Never heard of cuts described as "spooky". I guess my sense of humor is as wierd as me but this tickled me.

[jesse]

have to cut the firewood up here for them to steal it might be different this winter though.  cant give it away not cut up

[pigman]

Last year a group of tree savers near Louisville complained to the state about all the trees the state crews were cutting inside the fence of I -71. It turned out the state was not cutting the trees, it was theives stealing the wood with thousands of cars going by each day.  

[flip]

It really is sad times when a guy has to worry about having heating fuel (in any form) stolen.  Did these people's mamas forget to teach them right from wrong?  Sheesh. :

[Engineer]

According to what I've read, a cord of "typical" dry well-stacked hardwood is equivalent to 150 gallons of home heating oil or 230 gallons of LP gas.  I burn gas when not burning wood, so I'll use that.  The last time I had my propane tank filled was May 1st, at which time the price, locally, was $3.64 a gallon.  So that makes every cord of wood I produce worth approximately $835 to me.   It makes a cubic foot of wood worth over six bucks.   I'm putting $25-35 worth of fuel in my wood boiler every day during the winter.   For oil heat, even at $5 a gallon, that same cord is still worth $750. 

You can see why I pick up wood along the side of the road.    Lately I've been using pallets, punky wood, softwood, deadfalls, even paper bags full of sawdust.  Not that I'm desperate for firewood; I have piles of the stuff around, but it's gotten to the point, cost-wise, where it's stupid NOT to burn everything. 

So you guys might be able to understand my paranoia, to an extent.  My state has the same rules on right-of-way that most everyone else does - I "own" to the center of the road, the Town has a right-of-way (i.e. they do not own the land outright) and so the wood they cut is mine.   So for every pickup truck load of wood I scrounge, salvage or otherwise obtain honestly, I've saved myself, conservatively, $200.

[logwalker]

Paranoid? I don't think so. Make sure your stove is bolted down too. Joe ;)

[rebocardo]

Probably 3% of the population will steal anything they can sell for $5 or more, even a baby stroller left outside a mall store while the parent is ordering food.

A thief is not smart enough just to pile firewood to the bed rails, too greedy.

If you mark your wood ends you make it much harder to sell the wood, it does not take much paint to lightly coat the outside of a cord of wood if it is stacked neatly. Trace of blaze orange on each piece is all it takes or a unique color such as silver.

Pretty hard for the local police and neighbors to miss a truck piled high with colored firewood and it makes it very hard to sell when they know you will be looking for the wood they stole.

Best thing is to run two lines down the log on opposite sides and the butt ends, unless they strip the bark, you can easily ID the log or firewood. I carry blaze orange, but, always have cans of dark forest metallic green around too.

For my house I would go for cameras and chain to block the way before anything else. Mud, water, and sawdust makes a good tank trap  :D  Around here I have noticed highway wood gathers rarely have a 4x4 truck, usually a beat up 2x4 or station wagon.

Denying access with cameras for backup is probably the only sane way of protecting yourself at home.

[Warbird]

I don't think you are paranoid, at all.  I've got 9 - 10 cord of firewood on my 2 acres right now and I can't see the backside of the woodpile.  We are stacking it but it'll take a while and some of it could easily walk off.

As for painting the ends, that's a bad idea if you have a catalyst in your stove, like we do.  As the paint burns off, it could damage the catalyst and they are expensive to replace.

[David Freed]

It really is sad times when a guy has to worry about having heating fuel (in any form) stolen.  Did these people's mamas forget to teach them right from wrong?  Sheesh. :

Yes. We had a whole generation of people that wanted kids, but didn't want to be bothered with raising them properly.