Is it legal and/or ethical to remove fallen natural elements from a wooded area you don't own?

Hm. That’s a good question. When we’re out at the lake I occasionally see the “perfect” rock, for building rock things. It’s flat and all the edges are square. I’ll take it home, but I feel a little guilty about it.

I don’t know about “legal” but for those who use the Bible for ethics, the concept of allowing the poor to take what is left on the ground is a Biblical principal called gleaning. People were told to leave any of the harvest that fell to the ground for the poor to come and glean for themselves. It was a sin to snatch up and use that last bit instead of saving it for the poor and needy.

Could you make an attempt to cal the owners? The city surveyor would have that information.

Sure it is. I see fellas in orange jumpsuits doing it all the time in the areas that you described.

I Got into big trouble about 10 years ago when I removed a small amount dead wood with fungi in an on it from a county park. i was charged with a gross misdemeanor for removing herbs from the park. I hired a team of three attorneys to defend me. It cost me $6000 to stay out of jail.

I think it’s probably illegal. Any trespassing on land, even the state’s, is illegal and subject to prosecution in our area.

If you were taking photo’s or painting, not disturbing anything or removing anything, you are not ‘making changes’ to the land itself, but I’d still seek permission, especially since it’s hunting season. Better safe than sorry.

I doubt if anyone would object much to a short trespass onto vacant private property to pick up the odd item or two, maybe up to the amount of, say, a half-bushel basket or so. But “harvesting” from others’ lands is just wrong. They may intend to harvest themselves “this year” even if they’ve never done so before.

Doing that from nominally “public” land is probably beneficial, but I still wouldn’t go far or collect much; it probably requires a permit that you won’t have.

My knowledge is limited to a couple of states. The law in those read that removal of ANY items from state owned property without expressed consent of the authority of overseeing the property will be arrested. Permits were issued for the harvesting of “downed trees” for firewood. Trash was the only thing you could pick-up and remove.

You can come to my 5 acres and pickup anything you want @augustlan.

Real property is anything “permanently” affixed to the ground. Trees, a home, etc. If a branch falls off a tree onto the ground, it is no longer real property but personal property. “Stealing” a branch or an acorn would probably not put you in jail. If the property owner threw a fit, you may have to pay a fine, but I don’t think anyone will miss an acorn. Trespassing is another story.

If it’s small enough to put in your pocket, like an acorn or a rock, and not likely to affect the ecosystem, I wouldn’t worry about it ethically. Legally, I seriously doubt anyone would consider it worthwhile to bother you unless the thing has some kind of perceived value, like wood. But as to whether it’s actually against the law, that will almost certainly vary from city to city. They must have a website that you can consult to check the bylaws – if not, call your local police department and ask.

I would also add, in my country it is strictly forbidden (and this is enforced) to remove anything from a national park. Many provincial parks carry the same warnings; however, I don’t think that this is a nation-wide rule, and I have never heard of it being enforced at the provincial level except for fossils, which are always off limits.

I’ve been getting my firewood from fallen trees/branches in my woods for years now. I’ve been seen on the side of the road loading my truck up on several occasions by cops and they never seemed to mind. Probably depends on the state but in NJ it’s not a problem.

A park is a different story. I think you would be fine to do as you described.

I tend to make a judgment call—I tend to think, “If a number of people took this one little thing, would it affect the the environment in a harmful way?” If the answer is no, I take it, but if it will affect the beauty or function of the environment, I leave it.

I tend to leave river rocks, flowers, etc, but would take a fallen branch. My daughter and I found a bunch of larvae carved wood and took them home—she thought they were made by fairies. I helped the area by removing some dangerous pine beetle larvae, which got microwaved to oblivion before I put the sticks in our fairy garden.

Legal? If you don’t own it, don’t have a legal right to it, and don’t have permission from the property owner, probably not. Still, many jurisdictions have common property rights of various sorts: hunting, fishing, firewood/timber, waterway rights, even common ownership of land.

As for ethical: if nobody else wants it will use it, of course it’s ethical. But laws are rarely ethical, and a judge won’t see it that way.

Legal—as far as fallen trees, it depends on the laws in that jurisdiction regarding timber rights. I was camping in Mississippi on a friend’s property. There was a fallen tree a few yards away from the fence. I asked my friend if he thought it would be okay to use it for firewood at my campsite. He told me that it would probably not be okay, and he then said something about timber rights being extremely lucrative to landowners in the area.

The ethical question for me is “is this disruptive to the natural ecosystem?” Here inCalifornia, much of the roadside plantings are not native. If you decided you like the smell of eucalyptus, take all you want, it’s an import from Australia. Same with a lot of fir trees that are imported to the Bay Area. But don’t touch a redwood or oak!

Us National Parks explicitly forbid the removal of anything found therein. Everything is there for you and subsequent visitors to enjoy in as natural a state as possible. Many STate parks have similar rules that are often clearly posted. On BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land, casual removal of items like acorns or small rocks is generally permitted. These are public lands outside parks. On land whose ownership is unknown to you, finding out before you remove anything is advised. Private land means the owner on the land title has the right to approve or refuse your access or use of anything on the property.

Do your research about the kind of land you plan to explore and use. Private owners can be fairly tolerant if they are consulted prior to visitors taking liberties on their land.

I don’t know about the legal situation in the US. I know we are not allowed to remove shells from beaches in our national parks and it is discouraged generally because of the impact on the ecosystem. This is a webpage from the NSW government that discusses removing dead wood and wood debris from forests. You would have to check your local laws.

Ethically, while I agree taking one seed pod or one piece of fallen wood from a forest is unlikely to have an overall impact, if everyone or a large number of people did it, it would affect the ecosystem. Also, since such matter is part of the ecosystem and there are insects or animals that might rely on that one piece of wood, I doubt they would find its removal ethical.

As @Bellatrix points out everything is part of the ecosystem, and as such, even fallen things are part and parcel of the property they are on. To take anything would be stealing.

Thanks, everyone. If I go foraging, I’ll definitely ask permission and will be sure not to take too much.

@gondwanalon Wow, $6000 bucks. That’s a lot to pay for some woody fungus, huh? ;)
@Dutchess_III If I’m ever out your way, I’ll take you up on your offer. :)

LOTSA free deer and squirrid poop!

@gondwanalon and what kind of fungus was it growing on this branch ? :P

Fallen matter is part of the ecosystem in numerous ways. It helps prevent soil erosion. It furnishes mulch and returns nutrients to the soil. It creates a habitat for insects that provide food for birds. And so on. Even though it might not seem that removing a few small things could do any harm (and it probably won’t), responsible advice has to go against it.

I can’t be the only one who made a leaf scrapbook as a kid. I’d go to parks and pull leaves off the trees to put in my book for school. It never occurred to me that I was breaking the law.

@keobooks . . . this entire thread has me in a perpetual charlie brown sigh. a lot of city folk here.

@uberbatman It was some sort of a tree root-rot fungus that I was going to take to a certified arborist for analysis. The tree was likely dead or very close to it at the time. A certified arborist later told me that the tree was “doomed” well before I touched it. I worried that fungal infection would spread to the trees on my property just a few feet away. My neighbors saw me collecting the material with a small hatchet and totally freaked out (I thought that they were going to beat me up) and they called the cops on me. After I spent so much money defending myself in several court hearings over 6 months, all charges against me were dropped.

@gondwanalon Your experience make a great case for notifying the authorities and having them do the work. It would have cost a lot less in the long run.

@Blondesjon, what are you saying? What’s your view?

@Jeruba . . . sorry. in this case, if you have to ask you’ll never know.

I’d have appreciated your enlightening me, but so it goes.

I think what she means is that in most of the country there isn’t a whole lot of angst about fallen branches, pine cones, acorns, rocks on the ground, etc. There also aren’t a whole lot of strict lines about where one can and cannot walk and pick up the occasional object of interest. If you’re out and about in the countryside, then it ain’ no thang to take “some things” that appeal to one. (On the other hand, when you’re surrounded by rocks, fallen branches, pine cones, acorns and the like, they don’t hold a lot of fascination for their nominal owners, either.)

That was more or less what led me to my initial answer. Of course it is technically illegal (and always unethical) to take what doesn’t belong to you and what you don’t have explicit permission to take. But folks in the country (National Parks excepted, apparently) aren’t going to mind a lot, either, as long as you’re not out there harvesting something that they could and would plan to use.

Too bad incendiarydan isn’t around anymore! and that I seem to have come upon your question a year too late. But I’ll try to tackle this large question for you anyway, and relating to both fallen/unattached items and still-growing things:

Legality – it always pays to ask if possible, but really it depends what you’re taking and where you’re taking it from. Rural roadsides are treated as public property in many places, but some things are quite valuable – I absolutely wouldn’t want to be seen even just casually studying the ground on what might possibly be someone else’s property without permission during morel season, for instance. Or, say I saw a nice butternut tree in a neighbor’s yard; that’d be another to ask about. Apple trees and grape vines on the edges of property, on the other hand, I usually feel free to collect from, especially if there’s already a lot of obviously uncared-for fruit fallen around the ground there. Cattails, parsnips, lamb’s quarters, sumac, hickory nuts, black walnuts, and many others are so common that I can’t imagine anyone objecting to their harvest. I harvest these (sustainably) pretty much wherever I see them. And some stuff like burdock is an invasive devil plant (somewhat redeemed by the delicious fries you can make from the roots) that poisons cattle and I harvest with glee (and much effort) as often as possible. Always be respectful and don’t harvest fruther into the land from the roadside, despite the temptation.

Other stuff falls more under the “ethical” harvest part of your question, like sarsaparilla, goldthread, milkweed, hickory bark, and others – especially plants from which the harvest is a single underground storage organ such as roots, corms, or bulbs – which are more susceptible to overharvest. Also, some plants grow more abundantly in some areas and less in others, and it is up to the forager to make the responsible call. Never take too much bark from a single tree, and try to only take pieces that are about to be shed. It’s best to be circumspect when collecting rhizomes, because a single rhizome can give rise to several mature stalks. Another to watch out for is edible biennial roots – harvesting these kills the entire plant, so never take more than half in a patch. You can take about a third of the leafy greens from perennials without harming the plant. Annual greens are prolific and can be collected as much as you like. Shoots of perennials should be collected once per season from each colony. Fruits, berries, seeds and nuts are the gift of the plant and are meant to be harvested; these are produced in vastly larger quantities than are required to perpetuate the next generation. These are, however, important food sources for wildlife.

The following is a paragraph from Sam Thayer’s incredible book “The Forager’s Harvest,” which is where I got most of the above info (if you’re into foraging I highly recommend it; it’s one of the best guides out there):

“There are a few things you can do to increase your chances of securing permission. The first time you talk to a landowner, ask permission to harvest a specific plant that can be seen from the road; make it something like elderberries or butternuts that the landowner is likely to have heard of before. Offer to share your harvest with him (don’t worry; he won’t want any). If the landowner was kind and the property seemed like a promising one that you’d like to return to, bring a gift of some foraged product, such as a jar of jam or jelly, as a thank you at a later date. After feeling assured that foraging really is a hobby of yours and that you’re not up to anything else, the landowner will trust you more.”

Thanks, @wildpotato! It’s never too late for such a great answer. :)