Tree service in Mogul, NV

Mogul covers about a square mile and a half between Reno and Verdi, at about 4,705 feet. It is one of the most uniform communities on our list, and that makes its trees easy to describe.

Why are most Mogul trees the same age?

Because most of the houses are. About 13% of Mogul homes were built before 1980 and only about 7% in 2000 or later. That leaves roughly four out of five built in the 1980s and 1990s, with a median year built of 1985 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024). With about 470 households these are small-sample estimates.

Trees planted with those homes are 30 to 45 years old. A whole neighborhood's trees reaching maturity together has a predictable result: several neighbors face the same decisions in the same few years.

What decisions come up with 35-year-old trees?

The first is space. A tree chosen as a sapling for a spot 10 feet from the house is now touching the gutter. Crown reduction and raising buys years if the tree is sound.

The second is structure. Forks that were never corrected are now carrying heavy limbs. An arborist can tell you whether a fork is worth cabling or whether the limb should come off.

The third is whether to keep the tree at all. If it is the wrong species for the spot, or its roots are lifting paving, removal and stump grinding let you start again with something that fits. About 92% of Mogul homes are single-family detached and about 91% are owner-occupied, so these are nearly always the homeowner's own calls. An arborist consultation puts the options in writing.

Weather between Reno and Verdi

The Reno 3.4 WSW station, 2.4 miles from Mogul's center at 4,865 feet, has a NOAA 1991-2020 normal of 10.82 inches of precipitation a year. That is about 3.5 inches more than the Reno airport and about 9 inches less than the gauge at Verdi, a few miles upriver. Precipitation falls off quickly as you move east from the mountains, and Mogul sits partway down that slope.

The 2023 USDA map places Mogul in zone 7a, with average extreme winter lows of 0 to 5 degrees. Prune most deciduous trees in late winter and most conifers in early spring and summer; take out dead or hazardous wood whenever you find it.

Wildfire: mostly an ember problem here

The USDA Forest Service ranks Mogul's risk to homes above 95% of US communities and above about 55% of Nevada communities. About 10% of buildings are in the direct exposure zone and about 90% in the indirect zone. For nine homes in ten, then, the concern is embers and neighboring structures rather than flames from wildland.

The fire record is close by. Twenty-nine perimeters of 300 acres or more are mapped with a center point within about 10 miles since 1980. The Belli Ranch Fire of 1996, mapped at 6,724 acres, is centered about 1.8 miles from the middle of Mogul, and the Verdi Fire of 2006, at 5,662 acres, about 2.8 miles away.

Ember preparation is housekeeping plus pruning: dead wood out of the trees, limbs off the roof, nothing flammable in the first 5 feet. Our defensible space service covers it, and the zone guide explains the distances.

Services in Mogul

• Trimming and pruning
• Tree removal
• Stump grinding
• Certified arborist consultations
• 24-hour emergency tree service