Emergency tree service in the North Valleys and Stead

The North Valleys run up US 395 north of Reno: Stead, Lemmon Valley, Golden Valley and the newer subdivisions between them. ZIP 89506 mixes 1960s and 1970s neighborhoods, manufactured homes and streets finished in the last few years, so the trees in trouble range from full-grown to freshly staked.

At a glance

• Stead station: 16.7 inches of snow a year, mean temperature 51.0 degrees
• About 30% of homes in ZIP 89506 built before 1980, about 49% since 2000
• About 9% of housing units are mobile homes
• About 50 minutes from our Carson City yard without traffic

What does the Stead weather station tell us?

This is one of the few places we serve with a long-record station right in the neighborhood. The Stead station, at 5,101 feet, averages 16.7 inches of snowfall and about 11 inches of precipitation a year, with a mean temperature of 51.0 degrees, cooler than the Reno airport's 55.0 (NOAA 1991-2020 normals).

Cooler and higher means snow sticks. A wet storm in October or May, when leaves are on, is the one that breaks branches. The morning-after steps are in heavy wet snow and broken limbs.

Two kinds of neighborhood, two kinds of call

About 30% of homes in the ZIP were built before 1980. Those lots have mature trees, and a failure there can put a real load on a roof or a carport. It is assessed by a certified arborist and often lifted off with the boom truck or the crane.

About 49% of homes were built in 2000 or later. There the fallen tree is younger and lighter, and the damage is more likely a fence panel, a gate or a blocked sidewalk. A crew and a chipper handle it.

Manufactured homes need a careful hand

Roughly one housing unit in eleven in ZIP 89506 is a mobile home (American Community Survey 2020-2024). If a tree or limb is resting on one, leave the home and stay out until it has been looked at. Tell the office it is a manufactured home when you call so the arborist plans the lift accordingly.

City limits run through the ZIP

Parts of 89506 are in the City of Reno and parts are unincorporated Washoe County. Inside the city, a tree on private property needs no removal permit, and a tree in a City right-of-way needs a Tree Work Permit and a Certified Arborist. Outside the city we have no county tree-permit rule on record. If a fallen tree is in a public road, report it to whichever agency maintains that road.

Distance, stated plainly

Our yard is in Carson City, about 41.6 miles south. With clear roads the drive is about 50 minutes. It is the truth about the map, and it is why we ask North Valleys callers to phone early and to tell us everything in the first call: what fell, what it hit, what is blocked.