Tree removal in Fallon, NV

Fallon is the Churchill County seat and, at 3,965 feet, the lowest town in our service area. It is a compact city of about 4,600 homes on under 4 square miles in the irrigated Lahontan Valley. About 40% of its homes were built before 1980.

At a glance

• Lowest wildfire rank we serve: about the 31st US percentile
• Fallon station: about 4.8 inches of precipitation a year
• About 40% of homes built before 1980; about 17% before 1960
• About 58 miles from our yard, about 75 minutes without traffic

If fire is not the reason, what is?

The same things that end a tree's life in any old neighborhood, sharpened by the desert.

• Dead wood: large dead limbs over a roof, a sidewalk or a parked car
• Decay: conks, cavities or soft wood at the base or at old pruning wounds
• Structure: long, heavy limbs and tight forks that have begun to crack
• Space: a trunk against a foundation, or roots in a sewer line or under a slab
• Decline: a crown that gets thinner every summer

A certified arborist sorts which of these can be handled by pruning or cabling and which mean removal. About 96% of Fallon buildings are in the Forest Service's minimal exposure zone, and no fire of 300 acres or more has been mapped within about 10 miles since 1980, so you will not hear a fire argument from us here.

What does 4.8 inches of rain mean for a city tree?

The Fallon Experiment Station, about a mile from the city center, averages about 4.8 inches of precipitation and 4.5 inches of snow a year, with an average summer high near 90 degrees and an average winter low near 21 (NOAA 1991-2020 normals). Fallon is green because water is brought to it.

A street tree's health follows the watering on its lot. Where a yard has gone dry for a few years, large trees decline, and they do it from the top down. Dead upper limbs are the first thing to fall. If that describes a tree you own, do not wait for wind to prune it.

Who orders the work on a rental?

About half of Fallon's households rent. Removal has to be authorized by the property owner. Tenants should report a worrying tree to the landlord or manager in writing. Owners and managers can call us directly, and for several properties we can look at all of them on one trip.

How do we handle the distance?

Fallon is about 58 miles from our Carson City yard. We treat it as scheduled work: an estimate visit, then a work date, with the crew bringing the machines the plan needs. For a tall tree over a house that can mean the 75-foot Altec boom truck or the crane. We list no emergency service for Fallon and make no arrival promises, although our phone is answered 24 hours a day.

To make the trip count, ask about pruning for your other trees at the same time. If you want an expert opinion before deciding anything, start with an arborist consultation in Fallon.