No Tree Cutting in State ROWs

It’s common to see someone with a chainsaw and a trailer right along the roadside cutting trees and loading them up. But according to Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities Communications Director Shannon McCarthy, people should put away their chainsaws.

McCarthy says the State will often cut the trees in the right-of-way for sight lines or other reasons. Property owners get first dibs on that wood. She says it’s still private property, but the State’s right-of-way gives them the ability to maintain it to their standards.

Citizens cutting trees in the DOT right-of-way becomes a liability for the State. And each right-of-way is sized differently depending on the adjacent property, width of the road, and how the road is used. So it may be unclear where the right-of-way is. 

Recent cutting along the Spur Road adjacent to the paved trail brought this issue to light. And it’s not just along the Spur Road. The no-cutting rule applies to rights-of-way along any State road.