Facing a moral decision....

[Chumley]

I face a moral question daily as it relates to my pond. I have bought all my stone, driftwood, plants etc. however, I also see broken trees on the roadside or within sight of the road in a wooded area. Often I see stones on construction sites that would work well In my pond area. I read on this forum where members pull rock out of river beds, dry or active. I love wild sumac that is in abundance along the roadside.

Where and when do you think it is okay to take material? When you respond to this post, let's assume that it would not be okay to remove anything from a residential site, or remove any material that has been placed in a location for a reason, such as stone in a culvert. Other than that what is okay??

 

[mrsclem]

I have seen some awesome driftwood at a state park that is local. Sems it's not ok to remove anything from the park including plant material. Dead fall along the road in my opinion is fine. Saves someone from having to remove it. Construction site would probably let you have stone and other materials if you ask.

 

[Stephen T.]

We got "educated" when we removed some mossy rocks from a ditch along a road in the National Forest, the ranger could have given us a ticket, but just explained and made us put them back. On national land, it isn't legal to remove anything from a wetland, river, stream, spring... Away from these, you are supposed to have a permit, which may or may not be issued, to remove plants, soil, rocks or anything else. Generally, they don't quibble about small amounts, but if you fill a pickup bed and are seen, you may face trouble.

 

[Lisak1]

I always try to find someone to ask if I'm unsure. We were given permission to remove driftwood from a state park near us on Lake Michigan - they just drag it all into a pile and burn it otherwise. They even told us when the best times to come would be.

Along a road I wouldn't hesitate to stop and pick up a downed limb if I saw one. And farmers around us pile rocks at the corners of their property - it's common knowledge they are free for the taking.

We did get stopped once removing rocks from a subdivision near us - they had been there for years and the person who stopped us probably didn't have any authority to do so, but we complied. Not worth the hassle in that case.

On the other hand, we have some common areas in our subdivision where one resident decided it was her own personal garden space and she started transplanting divisions from her own yard. No problem with that until other residents decided to start digging and dividing things up to move into THEIR yards. Then we had to have a conversation about the meaning of "common area" - it belongs to everyone.

 

[j.w]

I refuse to answer on the grounds that it may incriminate me!

 

[Chumley]

I refuse to answer on the grounds that it may incriminate me!

Appreciate your honesty. I don't think you are alone if you compare the number of views compared to the number of responses

 

[Gemma]

I refuse to answer on the grounds that it may incriminate me!

 

[Jhn]

Agree with Lisa, I wouldn’t have a problem picking up down limbs or parts of downed trees on the side of the road. Construction sites I would ask first, even if it appears to be in a junk pile.

Most rock or driftwood I get comes from my construction sites, while I am prepping/ cleaning up the shoreline for whatever work I am doing.

 

[Tara]

Anything given freely for me is free game, as far as taking anything from parks or streams etc for me personally is a no go. Moss in some areas is monitored for environmental reasons such as air pollution. Two of my bosses from a job years ago used moss along with many other factors to prove that a 300 acre forest due to be removed for a public development, was indeed a healthy thriving ecosystem, and that it's removal would be a detrimental loss to a lot of species. Not so great if people take rocks from the stream beds, and dig up plants and what not.