Vegetation management considered as addition to division fence law

Adjacent landowners would be required to maintain division fences in good repair and to clear disruptive vegetation under a bill heard by the Agriculture Committee Jan. 25.

LB108, introduced by Holdrege Sen. Tom Carlson, would remove language in current law that disallows the removal of trees, buildings or other obstacles without the consent of the adjacent landowner or by court order. The bill also would declare vegetation damaging a division fence as a private nuisance to the adjacent landowner.

The bill would hold landowners liable for managing vegetation and keeping their portion of the fence in good repair.

Carlson said vegetation management increasingly is a point of fencing conflict. He offered a hypothetical example of two adjacent landowners with a tree trunk in their fence line. Unless both landowners agree to take out the tree trunk, he said, current law prohibits its removal.

Art Brownlee, representing the Nebraska Cattlemen, testified in support of LB108, saying it would address accountability and responsibility when managing fences.

“Good laws for good fences make good neighbors,” he said.

David Wright, representing the Independent Cattlemen of Nebraska, also testified in support of the bill. Damage to fences requires immediate action, he said, which the bill would recognize by permitting landowners to clear vegetation located on their neighbor’s land that is causing harm to division fences.

“I can either call my neighbor, get a court order or fix the fence,” Wright said, adding that livestock do not wait for repairs if one makes one of the first two choices.

The committee took no immediate action on the bill.