Stump grinding in Johnson Lane, NV

Johnson Lane spreads about 6,500 people over nearly 22 square miles in the northeast corner of Carson Valley, east of US 395. About 95% of the homes are detached houses and 94% are owner-occupied (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024). There is room for a lot of trees on each parcel, and room for a lot of stumps.

At a glance

• Nearly 22 square miles, about 95% detached houses
• Every stump on the property counted on one estimate
• Ground left low enough for a mower to pass
• Wildfire risk to homes higher than 98.3% of US communities

Why grind them all at once?

Because the trip and the set-up are the same for one stump or ten. On a large lot there are often stumps from different years: a dead tree by the house, two from a row along the fence, one out by the shop. Walk the property before you call and count them, including the ones cut flush that you have stopped noticing.

The estimate lists each stump separately. You can approve all of them or pick the ones that matter most. All estimates are tailored to each client and their needs.

What do stumps get in the way of on acreage?

Mowing, mainly. Dry grass and weeds on a big lot are kept down by a mower or a tractor, and a hidden stump is how blades and decks get damaged. Stumps along a fence line also stop you from clearing the strip where weeds and windblown debris collect.

That clearing matters here. The USDA Forest Service rates Johnson Lane's wildfire risk to homes higher than 98.3% of US communities, and 28% of buildings are in the direct exposure zone. Ground that can be mowed is ground that can be kept low. If the lot needs more than stumps, look at lot clearing and brush mowing in Johnson Lane.

Rows and windbreaks

When a row of trees dies back or outgrows its spot, the row usually comes out together and leaves a line of stumps a few feet apart. Their roots overlap. Grinding a row is done as one continuous pass, and the result is a long bed of chips and soil. Decide ahead of time whether that strip will be replanted, graveled or left as bare ground, because it changes what is done with the grindings.

Wells, septic and other things the utilities do not mark

An 811 request brings out the public utilities to mark their buried lines. On a rural-style lot much of what is underground is private: the line from a well to the house, a septic tank and leach field, power to a barn or a shop, stock-water and irrigation pipe. Sketch what you know and show the arborist. If a stump sits on or near a leach field, say so before any machine drives over it.

What happens to that many chips?

Ten stumps make a real volume of grindings. On a large lot there is usually space to use them: spread thin on bare ground away from buildings, or piled for you to move. Keep them at least 5 feet from the house and other structures, and out of continuous beds within 30 feet, as Nevada's Living With Fire guide advises. They can also be hauled.