Tree service in Smith Valley, NV

Smith Valley lies along the West Walker River in southern Lyon County and includes the communities of Smith and Wellington. The valley floor is at about 4,780 feet. It shares the coldest hardiness zone in our service area, 6b, and nearly every building in it is rated as directly exposed to wildfire.

Ranch houses and new homes, side by side

The Census Bureau's Smith Valley area covers about 102 square miles and about 1,800 people, in roughly 1,000 housing units. About 92% are single-family houses. The housing comes in two waves: about 17% of homes predate 1960, and about 64% were built in 2000 or later, giving a median year built of 2004 (ACS 2020-2024, a small sample with wide margins).

So the trees come in two sizes. Around the old ranch houses and along the ditches stand trees that are generations old. Around the newer homes on acreage, trees are young and often planted as windbreaks. The first group calls for large tree removal, dead wooding and careful crown pruning; the second for early structural pruning so the trees grow up sound.

How cold does Smith Valley get?

The 2023 USDA map puts ZIP 89444 in hardiness zone 6b, where the average extreme winter low is minus 5 to 0 degrees. That is a half zone colder than Yerington, Dayton or Fallon. The Smith 6 N station, about 6 miles from the valley center at 5,000 feet, records a mean annual temperature of 51.1 degrees and 6.24 inches of precipitation a year (NOAA 1991-2020 normals).

Cold nights and 6 inches of moisture mean slow growth away from irrigated fields and fast growth beside them. Our pruning rule holds here as elsewhere: dead and hazardous limbs any time, most deciduous trees in late winter, most conifers in early spring and summer.

Nine in ten buildings are directly exposed to wildfire

The Forest Service rates Smith Valley's risk to homes higher than 97% of US communities and 70% of Nevada communities. The striking number is exposure: about 90% of buildings are in the direct exposure zone, one of the highest shares of any community we serve. Only about 2% are rated minimal.

Four fires of 300 acres or more have a mapped center within about 10 miles since 1980. The named ones are Tre in 2012 (7,073 acres), Upper Colony in 2018 (1,201 acres) and Burbank in 2011 (1,113 acres).

Direct exposure means brush and grass run up to the buildings. Cutting that fuel back with a brush mower or masticator, and limbing up the trees near the house, is the practical response. Read lot clearing and brush mowing in Smith Valley and what defensible space means, zone by zone.

Heating with wood and propane

About 13.5% of Smith Valley households heat mainly with wood and about 46% with bottled gas (ACS 2020-2024). Trees taken down on a ranch property are often worth keeping as firewood rounds; tell us at the estimate if you want the wood left on site.

The trip from Carson City

At about 80 minutes each way, Smith Valley is, with Yerington, the longest drive we make short of Hawthorne. We schedule valley jobs as full working days. An arborist consultation in Smith Valley is a good first step on a large property, because it sorts the trees into remove, prune and leave alone before any equipment moves.