Haverhill residents will have to wait to harvest downed trees on city land
By Mike LaBella
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HAVERHILL — A proposal by City Councilor David Hall to allow residents to remove tree trunks, limbs and branches that came down during a fierce December ice storm did not gain City Council approval last night.
But the idea isn't dead.
The council sent the proposal to the city's Natural Resources Committee with expectations it will come before the council for a hearing.
Last night, Hall said his plan would be a win-win for Haverhill and its residents. He said the city would get free help in removing debris that lines roads and parks and residents who can't afford to pay $275 for a cord of firewood could harvest wood for free without the threat of being arrested. A cord of cut and split firewood measures 4 feet high, 4 feet deep and 8 feet long.
"So many people that burn wood in their houses and apartments have asked me if they can come onto city land to cut wood," Hall said.
The idea of residents running around on city land carrying gas-powered chain saws alarmed Councilor Mary Ellen Daly O'Brien, who said she had never heard of any community allowing something like this.
"There's something about it that makes me nervous," she said. "And if anyone is going to gain a profit I hope it would be the city."
Although Hall did not outline the details of his proposed plan last night, he has said he would like to see a process that would include requiring anyone who wants to cut the wood to register with the city's tree warden, who would then visit, inspect and mark the downed tree in preparation for it being cut and hauled away.
Before chopping the wood up, the resident also would have to sign an insurance liability waiver form, Hall had said. The form would protect the city from being sued should anyone get hurt while cutting wood on city land.
Hall told The Eagle-Tribune that his idea is not intended to benefit people who are in the business of cutting and selling firewood.
Councilor William Macek, who heads the Natural Resources Committee, wanted to see a plan that "works for everyone," and went so far as to suggest the idea of allowing residents to take down live trees through a strictly controlled form of woodland tree harvesting.
Whether harvesting live trees or cutting up downed trees in the city's forests, Councilor William Ryan made his concerns known for how any such plan would be policed, saying the city has only one conservation officer.
"No one should be allowed to go into our forests to cut wood for their own private use," Ryan said.
Hall assured the committee that under his plan, no one would be allowed to cut down a living tree on city land.
Hall's proposal came a week after the City Council waived, for nine dates this month, the $7 one-day fee residents are charged to bring tree limbs and branches to the Recycling Center at the public works yard on Primrose Street.