Agricultural Roadside Guidelines

Open agricultural landscapes with mature native shade trees distinguish Lincoln from many adjacent communities. Our focus is on the relationship of trees to stone walls along the right-of-ways and bordering landscapes. As trees die and are replaced, the goal of the Town is to increase safety and tree health while maintaining the rhythm of mature trees and views to the fields seen over the walls. Planting replacement trees behind existing stone walls is the suggested method to achieve this. It is essential that well spaced trees of the same or compatible species be planted behind the walls so that as the older roadside trees die out visual order is maintained.

The scruffy underbrush along most agricultural roadsides should be thinned out or removed yearly to keep the view open.

As with the shade trees, the stone walls separating the roadway from the open fields are highly visible and in most cases are quite continuous. Attention should be focused on maintaining these walls in their historic form, with invasive trees and vines removed to prevent disfigurement of the walls and conflict with adjacent shade trees.

Utility lines continuously border the roadways passing through agricultural landscapes. New trees should be planted far enough into the bordering landscape to allow for growth without disfigurement by utility company pruning.

To identify your road type, see Roadside Types definitions and Roadsides types map

For a complete list of guidelines, see the Lincoln Roadside Report, pp. 18 - 38