Any kind of recourse for land getting logged behind me?

[TomSeller]

I look at this a little different. What if we fast forward and let's say the area was horribly logged, a mess was made, streams were polluted, run off everywhere, logger out of business and the owner mad as heck.... ShowRoomShine later sees the owner at the grocery store and hears of the owner's plight first hand. ShowRoomShine says "I could have told you that was going to happen". The owner says "why didn't you tell me?"........

I say ShowRoomShine pays a concerned neighbor visit and if the owner pushes back, leave it at that.

 

[blueriver]

Put the shoe on the other foot ... You want them to come and tell u what to do on your land?

 

[BleedingOrange]

Good god, I'm not trying to tell him to do what he wants with his land. I'm trying to see if I have any recourse to make sure the logger cleans up his mess.

I agree, his land, do what he wants with it. But I feel as if the logger should clean up his mess, and from what I've heard about this particular one...it sounds like he wont, hence my question.

Why not talk to whoever issued the licence to the logger, and see what the plan for clean-up is ?

 

[milkman636]

There is no sense getting worked up about a mess that may or may not even exist on someone else's property. Worry is not good for a person.

As someone that enjoys hunting, I would welcome a 20 acre clearing with sunlight and tender new growth next to my woods. I've shot some nice deer in woods adjacent to clear lots that offer food, sunshine and a little ground cover to hide behind.

 

[newbury]

The "mess" I'm referring to would be rutting, mud, brush piles that haven't been chipped etc. I've taken a forestry course at State, and I'm well aware of the general idea of how a logging site should be left. I also work with loggers in my job (I sell tree chippers among other heavy equipment), so I've got that insight as well.

Rutting and mud are natural. Nice gentle logging is a lot more expensive. And why should brush piles be chipped? Oh, that's right YOU sell chippers. I grew up hunting on logged lands. I own about 400 acres which are logged. They leave brush piles all over. To me it's better to leave the piles than "clean" the site. The brush piles offer excellent habitat for all sorts of game. A pile of chips is only pretty to humans and insects.

<snip> This is serious, I bought a home in the Virginia mountains specifically for the view, and yes I'm upset that view is about to become more barren and cut. <snip>

And that reads like the truth. You bought a piece of earth so you could look at a piece of earth you don't own and they changed it. And now YOU are upset. That's as bad as my neighbor that wants me to cut MY trees to improve HIS view.

If you took a GOOD picture of it, have the pictures enlarged and put them in your windows.

 

[Walkin Horse]

I'm glad you didn't ask how the loggers could do it safely.

 

[square1]

What is sub standard? If you hire a logger to cut down and sell the timber on the land you own, then it is up to the land owner to decide as to what degree the logging company cleans up the land after they are done. Not the neighbor.

I think the OP answers your question with this statement:

Is there any kind of law in Virginia that says they have to clean and replant?

He wants to know what laws are on the books. It's 100% understood that time is money and every man hour the logger puts into anything other than harvesting timber,i.e. restoration, cuts into his profit. Apparently this particular logger has a rep that precedes him which fuels at least part of the OP's concern. Yes, I understand there's a personal dislike for what is about to happen and the OP has no say in that.

I liken this to my previous residence. An absentee landlord bought the house next door. He didn't care what happened there as long as the rent was paid. A lot of things went on there I didn't like. When the renter started accumulating abandoned cars there was a legal avenue for me to take to have that situation corrected and you can be absolutely certain I used it.

 

[MossRoad]

Hey, with any luck after they cut down all the trees, they won't put up a hundred turbine wind farm. That'll change your view, too. Just kidding.

To you, it stinks. You have a beautiful view and its going to be altered. However, with any luck, the tree view will be changed to a meadow view, wildflowers and small trees will spring up, and you'll have 30 years to watch nature take its course to rebuild a forest. Its one of the hazards of not owning everything within your view. Change happens. Sometimes it benefits us and sometimes it doesn't. Most of the time, its out of our control, especially outside of city limits where there are no or little zoning laws.

For sure, keep an eye on the operation. At first sign of problems that will physically effect your property or the local watershed, report it. Other than that, you can only watch.

 

[DHD]

Hey, with any luck after they cut down all the trees, they won't put up a hundred turbine wind farm. That'll change your view, too. Just kidding.
.

The OP is lucky, changing the view from cut down trees is only temporary, changing views from wind mill installations like we have in Maine is not temporary, and the spread is getting worse.

 

[newbury]

The OP is lucky, changing the view from cut down trees is only temporary, changing views from wind mill installations like we have in Maine is not temporary, and the spread is getting worse.

Or a trailer park
or low income housing etc.