The pictures of the scene above were taken by Scenic America board member Bill Brinton along I-95 in Jacksonville, Florida.

The practice of cutting and removing trees near billboards, so that the signs are more clearly visible to passing motorists, is garnering more attention from the media and more outrage from citizens around the country.

For a first-hand account of the effects of tree cutting on communities, be sure to read From the Tree Killing Fields (PDF), a paper by the esteemed Charles F. Floyd, Professor of Real Estate at the University of Georgia.

Our newest publication, Beauty and the Beast, examines how the billboard industry makes money by chopping down the public's trees, why states let them do it, and what you can do to stop it.

Scenic America is offering this publication free of charge. Contact us and we will gladly send you a copy or you can click here to download the publication as a PDF document.