Fair Warning reports on a criminal probe in Florida related to the killing of trees by billboard companies. Lamar advertising says it’s against company policy:
Trees were the enemy if they spoiled the view of a billboard. On days of an attack, Barnhart, 27, would arrive by dawn at Lamar Advertising Co. in Tallahassee, Fla. After removing the magnetic Lamar logo from a company truck, he would set forth with a machete, a hospital mask and a container of what he described as a “pretty gnarly” herbicide.
It was all about being fast: Hack into the roots or base of the tree, douse the wound with herbicide, and get out of there. The Lamar executive who gave the orders, said Barnhart, called it “a hit and run.”
It is surprising to me that this is an issue. I assume billboard companies have a legal right to keep the view of their signs open. That would be pretty standard for a land lease for a specific purpose and rightly so since they are paying the land owner for that visibility.
The power company has the same type of language to protect their investment.
Certain states have their own laws.
“Tree pruning also happens routinely, and legally, by arrangement between billboard operators and PRIVATE landowners. The industry has lobbied for STATE laws to allow tree-cutting along public highways under certain conditions. According to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, the industry trade group, 29 states, including Florida, have “reasonable” regulations on clearing vegetation that blocks views of signs. The group says on its website: “The OAAA discourages vegetation control that is not in compliance with STATE and local laws and regulations.
“In 2008, Lamar was sued by the state of Connecticut after the company and a tree service trespassed on state land and removed 83 trees along Interstate 84, including oak, spruce, maple and birch trees up to 37 inches in diameter. They “swept a swath of destruction,” said then-Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, “obliterating a vital environmental buffer protecting homeowners from noxious noise and views.
“The problem was that Lamar had a permit to trim—not cut down—trees. It also felled trees outside the permitted area”.
Sybil, your account certainly is atrocious.