Stump grinding in Incline Village, NV

Incline Village has about 7,800 housing units and about 4,000 year-round households, so a large share of the homes are used part of the year. A stump is the kind of job that waits in a yard like that. It does not have to.

At a glance

• 61% of Incline Village buildings are in the direct wildfire exposure zone
• Grindings are wood mulch: keep them out of the first 5 feet around the house
• TRPA reviews work on live vegetation in stream zones and the backshore
• Stumps from our removals or ones another crew left behind

What is different about a stump in Incline Village?

Two things. The first is fire. The USDA Forest Service puts 61% of Incline Village's buildings in the direct wildfire exposure zone and rates the risk to homes higher than 97.7% of US communities. A ground stump becomes a pile of wood chips, and wood chips are fuel.

The second is the Lake Tahoe Basin itself. Creeks run through the town to the lake, and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) reviews any manipulation of live vegetation in stream environment zones and the backshore. A stump from a tree that is already down is not a live tree, but the ground around it may be regulated. Say where the stump is when you call and we will tell you what to ask the agency. The agency decides.

Where should the grindings go?

University of Nevada, Reno Extension's Living With Fire guide calls the first 5 feet around a house Zone 0, the ember-resistant zone, and says to remove wood mulch and other combustible mulch from it. From 5 to 30 feet, mulch can be used, but not in a continuous, widespread way.

So a stump beside the deck is handled differently from one at the back of the lot. Near the house, the grindings are best hauled off or moved. Farther out they can be spread thin. Your estimate spells out which, because the estimate is tailored to the property.

Do pine and fir stumps grow back?

The Sierra conifers that make up most of Incline Village's canopy do not send up new trees from a cut stump the way a cottonwood or an aspen does. That means a conifer stump is mostly a matter of space, looks and footing rather than regrowth. Aspens are another story: they sprout from the roots, and grinding the stump is the first step in slowing that.

Can you work on a house we are not living in?

Yes. Send photos of the stump with your estimate request, and tell us about gate codes, a caretaker or a property manager. We need to know how a machine can reach the stump: the width of the path, any steps, and how steep the ground is. Incline Village's weather station averages a mean temperature of 46 degrees (NOAA 1991-2020 normals), and winter snow cover can hide a stump completely, so photos taken before the snow help.

What happens before the grinder starts?

Buried lines are checked. 811 is the free national before-you-dig service, and utilities mark their lines when a request is made a few business days ahead. Irrigation pipe, low-voltage lighting and heated-driveway wiring are private and are not marked by the utilities, so point those out. More in call 811 before stump grinding.