Dumping and trespassing are a problem in virtually all rural areas in the southeast. Whether they are poaching, hiking, or dumping trash on your property, trespassers are a liability risk to your property. Taking action against trespassing is necessary to protect your investment.
For absentee landowners (landowners who do not live on their forestland), it can be difficult to monitor and control access to your property. We encourage our clients to take at least a few of the following steps to protect their property:
1) Post your property. Putting up "POSTED" signs along your property lines in 150-200ft intervals legally posts your property and enables you to take legal action against trespassers. This also serves as a sign to trespassers that the landowner is taking an active role in preventing illegal activity on their property.
2) Paint the property lines. If the property lines are easily discernible, either you or your forester can paint a 4" stripe on the boundary line trees along your property line. This makes your property lines absolutely clear, not just for trespassers, but also for timber buyers. Once you get a property surveyed, painting the lines every 5-8 years can protect your property from trespassing or encroachment and prevent the need for another survey in the future if you sell your property or harvest timber along the property line.
3) Put gates on the forest roads. Putting gates on forest roads can prevent nearly all large vehicle traffic on your property. While 4-wheelers, dirtbikes, and other small vehicle traffic might still be an issue, putting gates on the entrances can prevent trucks and other SUVs from entering the property, damaging roads, and dumping trash.
4) Lease the property to a hunting club. If you are an absentee landowner, leasing your property to a hunt club can bring in some extra income to pay for real estate taxes and to ensure that there will be a local presence on your tract. A good hunt club will typically help maintain the property and inform the landowner of any trespassing, dumping, or other issues.
Preventing trespassing on your land is necessary to prevent poaching, dumping, and vandalism. Simple steps such as posting your property and putting up gates on forest roads can prevent a majority of the problems associated with trespassers.
If your are interested in any of these activities, please contact us. Timber Marketing and Management of the Carolinas can post and paint your property lines or install gates on your forest roads or find a contractor who can do so. We also manage hunt club leases for landowners.
www.tmmoc.com
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