Emergency tree service in Galena and along Mt. Rose Highway

This is the high side of Reno. Our reference point for the ZIP sits at about 5,634 feet, more than 1,000 feet above downtown, and the USDA map puts it in hardiness zone 6b, the coldest zone among the Reno ZIP codes we serve. Storms that bring rain to the valley floor bring snow here.

At a glance

• About 5,634 feet at our reference point, USDA zone 6b
• About 35 minutes from the Carson City yard without traffic
• Crane and 75-foot boom truck for trees over houses
• Tell the office about your driveway: slope, length, snow

What is different about a tree emergency at this elevation?

Three things. The trees are tall evergreens that hold snow on every branch. The houses sit among them, not beside them. And the driveways are long and steep, so a single fallen trunk can shut a household in.

Evergreens fail in their own way. A top snaps out and hangs in the crown. A whole tree leans over under load and stops against its neighbor or against the eaves. Both are still moving, slowly, and both can come the rest of the way down without warning. Keep out from under them and read widow-makers and hanging limbs.

Why access decides the method

A crane lifts a broken tree away from a house in sections, and it is the gentlest way to do it. A crane also needs firm, fairly level ground to set its outriggers and a road it can climb. On a steep or snowed-in drive the answer may be the tracked loader, the boom truck from the street, or a climber.

So when you call, describe the driveway before the tree: how long, how steep, plowed or not, and whether a truck can turn around. If the drive itself needs opening, we run snow and ice removal with plows and loaders, around the clock in snow season.

We have no snowfall number for you, and here is why

The nearest long-record snowfall stations are on the valley floor or across the hills in Virginia City, too far and too different in elevation to describe Galena. We would sooner give no figure than a wrong one. What is on record: FEMA's National Risk Index rates Washoe County's winter weather risk as Very High.

Fire-killed and dead trees are storm hazards too

The 2024 Davis Fire, mapped at 5,824 acres, has its mapped center about 4 miles from our reference point for the ZIP. The 2011 Washoe Drive Fire, mapped at 3,178 acres, is about the same distance. A dead standing tree is a hazard in any season and can be removed at any time of year. Do not wait for a winter storm to test it. See how to tell if a tree is dead or dying.

The drive from Carson City

About 26 miles and 35 minutes without traffic to our reference point for the ZIP, and longer to homes higher up the highway. Chain controls and closures on Mt. Rose Highway are outside our control. We will tell you honestly what the road allows.