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Since You Asked: Wood cut by road crews belongs to property owner Sunday Jan 1, 2017 at 12:01 AM From time to time, I see wood cut up — and sometimes neatly stacked — along county roads, as if the power company or road crews have taken care of nuisance trees. Who does that wood belong to? Can anybody come along and use it for firewood? — Dave S., Medford   Well, Dave, when we started looking around for an answer to your question, we stumbled across a county web page that almost looks like it was made just to answer your question. In fact, the heading at the top of the page says, "Firewood Pieces Along County Roads ... Who Do They Belong To?" "When wood is cut along our county roads," the website says, the county chips the small stuff and hauls it away, but if it's safe to do so, they "leave the big stuff for firewood." So what happens to the wood? Who gets it? Who does it really belong to? "Most of the time, the cut wood belongs to the property owner who fronts the road in the area the tree was cut," the site says. "If the tree is in the right-of-way ... it still belongs to the property owner who fronts the road." In some cases, the property owner may not want the wood. But before you just start loading it up, you should ask permission so you know for sure the owner does not want it. If you want to check out the web page yourself, see http://jacksoncountyor.org/roads/Home/ArtMID/4172/ArticleID/242020/Firewood-Pieces-Along-County-Roads You could also call the county Roads Department at 541-774-8184 if you have more questions. — Send questions to “Since You Asked,” Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by email to [email protected]. We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them.