Brush clearing draws ire in Nez Perce County

LEWISTON – A gigantic brush cutter that slices through small trees and chops off branches 20 feet above the ground as it clears the sides of roadways has landed Nez Perce County officials in a thicket.

Residents living along roads where the machine has passed say it leaves unsightly scars.

“It’s no garden anymore,” Lawrence Clark told the Lewiston Tribune after an unsuccessful attempt to keep the brush cutter off Cottonwood Creek Road.

But county officials say removing brush from the sides of roadways is a safety issue with liability concerns.

The trees and brush used to be removed by hand, but the county acquired a brush-cutting attachment for an excavator and started using it this spring. The machine not only cuts brush and trees but grinds up the debris as it passes.

Kevin Poole, the head of the county’s road and bridge department, said brush is removed from all rural roads. Doing so prevents ice from building up on the road in the shade caused by trees and makes it easier for drivers to see deer. He also said the trees themselves are a hazard to drivers who might run into them.

But Steve Hornbeck said the trees the county wants to remove on the road he lives near have prevented cars from sliding off at least three times and prevented them from overturning. He added that motorists might drive more cautiously if the brush wasn’t removed.

“If it’s wide open, (drivers) are going to go wide open,” Hornbeck told county commissioners at their meeting Monday.

Hornbeck, who lives along Gifford-Reubens Road, has offered to trim the brush himself, but Poole said that could open the county to liability issues.

Commissioner Douglas Zenner said his main concern is safety, meaning the brush-cutting would have to continue if there were no other options. He said he’s looking for grants that would pay for guardrails along county roads.