Lot clearing and brush mowing in Reno, NV

Battle Born Tree Service clears and mows Reno parcels with its own track loader, masticating head and dump trucks, and a certified arborist does the tree sorting. Reno is the largest city we work in, with about 273,000 residents on about 109 square miles of land. Most of that is built. The clearing work is at the seams: infill lots, hillside parcels on the edges, and strips of brush between a neighborhood and open country.

At a glance

• Reno code Chapter 18.12, Article V covers tree protection on development sites
• No City permit to remove a tree on private property outside development review
• 5% of Reno buildings in the direct exposure zone, about 42% indirect
• About 43 minutes from our Carson City yard

What does Reno's tree ordinance mean for a lot?

The Truckee Meadows Water Authority's summary of local tree ordinances says the City of Reno has a tree protection ordinance in Chapter 18.12, Article V of its municipal code, covering tree preservation criteria, tree credits, replacement of trees and penalties for removal, and tree mitigation plans. Title 18 is the part of the code that governs land development.

So if you are clearing in order to build, ask the City's planning staff what applies to your parcel before any tree comes down. Removing a tree first and asking later is the wrong order. Outside of development review, Reno's Urban Forestry FAQ says no permit is needed to remove, prune or plant a tree on private property.

How an arborist helps before the machines arrive

A tree plan needs someone to say which trees are sound. Battle Born Tree Service has two ISA Certified Arborists on staff (ISA Certified Arborist WE-11728A). On a Reno lot the arborist can walk the parcel, tell you which trees are healthy and well placed, and which are dead, failing or in the footprint. That is an arborist consultation, and it gives you and your designer something to plan with.

The City decides what its code requires. We give you the facts about the trees.

Where is brush mowing useful in a city this built up?

On the edges. The USDA Forest Service ranks Reno's wildfire risk to homes higher than 97.7% of US communities, but it places 52.6% of the city's buildings in the minimal exposure zone and only 5.0% in the direct zone. The risk is concentrated where streets meet sagebrush.

If your back fence faces a slope or a drainage, the band of grass and brush on your side of the line is the piece you control. Brush mowing cuts it to stubble. Ground that belongs to an association, the City or a neighbor is theirs to maintain, and we work on it only at the request of whoever owns it.

Fires on the Reno map

The National Interagency Fire Center maps the Poeville Road Fire of 2020 at 2,973 acres, centred about 5.5 miles from downtown, the Arrowcreek Fire of 2000 at 2,788 acres, about 6.1 miles away, and the Verdi Fire of 2006 at 5,662 acres, about 7 miles away. In all, 34 perimeter records of 300 acres or more have centres within about 10 miles of the city centre.

Getting equipment to a Reno job

Our yard is in Carson City, about 33.5 miles and about 43 minutes from central Reno without traffic. Clearing equipment travels by truck and trailer, so we plan Reno work to finish in as few trips as the parcel allows. A clear description when you call helps: the size of the lot, the slope, what is growing on it and how a truck gets in.

For neighborhoods on the south and west edges, see the pages for Galena and Mt. Rose Highway and Verdi.