Rockhouse Road butchering – safety or damage?

Rockhouse Road is considered one of the more scenic roads in the Eureka Springs area, and is a major route for people heading to the Kings River for kayaking or fishing. The road in places has a tree canopy that gives the feeling of being in a secluded forest.

But recent tree cutting by the Carroll County Road Department has raised concerns about the harm being done to the trees, neighboring homes and vehicles parked close to the road.

Rockhouse Road resident Wayne Schumacher said the county has been working on clearing the right-of-way for about three weeks using a large John Deere brush hog with a circulating saw attached to a boom. Schumacher said the landscape is being butchered.

“This year it is the worst I have seen,” Schumacher said. “It looks like a tornado came through. Trees are splintered and shattered. Our house is close to the road, and my wife was working in front of the picture window when the whole house got belted with shards and splinters from the cedar trees. Then, he shot up a rock that broke a window in my barn. I also found a rock in my gutter.”

Schumacher said he understands that the roadways have to be cut back for safety, but objects to the use of a machine knocking bark off mature trees that could cause the trees to die in a year or two.

“A lot of tourists come out this way because the river is so popular for kayaking,” Schumacher said. “On any weekend when we have a car event, we will have lots of cars go down the road. Motorcyclists love it. Now we are getting more bicyclists. Why did they have to butcher it like that? Couldn’t they have used a bucket truck so it didn’t shatter the trees? They aren’t taking big, dead trees that could potentially fall in the road. They are just whacking anything close to the road. It’s a mess. Several years ago, they brought out a crew in a bucket truck with chain saws and it looked much better.”

Some residents are putting ribbons on trees they want saved, like red buds. Resident Christopher Fischer said it would be helpful if the county would communicate with people to let them know when they are going to cut so people can take precautions like moving vehicles.

“And I wish the county would reconsider using that machine when a house or vehicle is within twenty feet of the roadside,” he said.

Fischer urged property owners to try to work with the county. A certified arborist, he asked the county road crew member operating the machine if he could go ahead and trim his bamboo in order to retain some of the screening needed to protect their home from the road and prevent erosion.

Fischer said it would help if more people who live on the road help keep the right-of-way cleared on their property.

That would be a wonderful, said County Judge Sam Barr, but few people do it.

Barr said the county needs to maintain a right-of-way 25 feet from the center line on each side of the road. The roadsides have to be cut back or vegetation can block the vision of drivers, scratch vehicles and impede traffic.

Barr has been receiving calls of concern about the right-of-way clearance.

“I’m sorry they are not happy with it, but it is something that we have to do,” Barr said. “We have two machines and 17 people who have to maintain 761 miles of road. You have both sides of the road, so that doubles it.”

One Rockhouse Road property owner questioned if the county has the right to cut 25 feet from the center line, saying her property deed shows no such easement.