Tree removal in Johnson Lane, NV

Johnson Lane spreads about 2,800 homes over roughly 22 square miles on the east side of the Carson Valley, north of Minden. Nearly all are detached houses with their owners living in them, and the Census Bureau's estimates show none built before 1960. Every tree here was planted by someone, on open ground, within living memory.

At a glance

• About 2,800 homes on about 22 square miles: room to bring machines to the tree
• Wildfire risk to homes higher than 98.3% of US communities
• Local gauge averages about 8.1 inches of precipitation a year
• About 17 miles from the yard, about 28 minutes without traffic

Why do windbreak trees fail together?

A row planted in the same year, of the same species, on the same drip line shares everything, including its weak points. When the irrigation is cut back, or a line breaks unnoticed, the whole row is stressed at once. The Minden 6.0 NNE gauge, less than a mile from the center of Johnson Lane, averages only about 8.1 inches of precipitation a year (NOAA 1991-2020 normals). Nothing planted here gets by on rainfall.

Stressed trees lose tops and limbs in wind, and stressed conifers attract bark beetles. By the time one tree in a row is dead, its neighbors deserve a look. The arborist walks the row and tells you which trees can stay. Background reading: drought stress and dieback.

Does a bigger lot make removal simpler?

Usually it does. With space around the tree, the 75-foot Altec boom truck can often drive right up to it, the chipper can sit beside the work, and the 2014 Bobcat T870 track loader can carry logs to the dump truck instead of a crew hauling them by hand through a gate. Fewer obstacles means fewer hours.

It is still not felling in a field. Houses, shops, corrals, septic systems, wells and overhead service lines all sit somewhere on a big lot, and the arborist maps them before choosing the method. Tell us where the septic tank and leach field are so heavy equipment stays off them.

How does fire figure in?

Heavily. The USDA Forest Service ranks Johnson Lane's risk to homes higher than 98.3% of US communities and about 83% of Nevada communities, the highest of the Carson Valley towns we serve. About 28% of buildings are in the direct exposure zone, 72% in the indirect zone and none in the minimal zone.

Large fires mapped within about 10 miles since 1980 include the 2004 Waterfall Fire (8,765 acres), the 1983 S Pinenut Fire (1,797 acres) and the 2005 Badger Fire (656 acres). A line of dead, dry trees leading toward a house is the kind of fuel a defensible space plan removes first. See defensible space in Johnson Lane.

What do we do with a whole row of trees?

Brush is chipped and logs are hauled, or left if you want them. A row leaves a row of stumps, so decide early whether they are to be ground. On larger jobs, where brush and volunteer trees have filled a fence line, lot clearing and brush mowing may suit better than tree-by-tree removal. The free estimate will lay out both.