Tree removal in Spanish Springs, NV

Spanish Springs grew fast along the Pyramid Highway from the 1990s on. The median home dates from 2002, about 92% are owner-occupied, and nearly every one has a fenced back yard with a few trees the first owner put in.

At a glance

• Median Spanish Springs home built in 2002
• About 95% single-family detached, about 92% owner-occupied
• Wildfire risk to homes higher than 98.6% of US communities
• About 53 minutes from our yard without traffic

Why do newer homes need tree removal at all?

Because trees get chosen at the nursery for how they look in a 15-gallon pot. Twenty years on, the fast grower by the patio has brittle limbs over the roof, the evergreen by the fence is pushing the boards out, and the tree in the lawn has roots at the surface. None of them are giants. All of them are now someone's problem.

If the tree is basically sound and only badly shaped, pruning may be enough. The arborist will say so.

Getting a tree out of a fenced back yard

Access is the main puzzle in a subdivision. Side gates are narrow and the yard behind is boxed in by the neighbors' fences. For a small or mid-size tree the crew cuts it down in manageable pieces and carries them to the chipper at the curb. A track loader only comes in where there is a gate wide enough and ground that can take it. We tell you at the estimate which it will be.

How does the desert edge change things?

The USDA Forest Service ranks Spanish Springs' wildfire risk to homes higher than 98.6% of US communities and about 88% of Nevada communities, with about 32% of buildings in the direct exposure zone. The 1999 Reservoir Fire, mapped at 6,163 acres, and the 2017 Prater Fire, mapped at 2,700 acres, are both in the record within about 10 miles.

If your lot backs onto open brush, a dead tree or a conifer hard against the house is worth removing for that reason. More on our Spanish Springs defensible space page.

A dry valley floor

The Spanish Springs weather station averages about 9.2 inches of precipitation a year (NOAA 1991-2020 normals). Landscape trees live on drip lines. When an emitter clogs or a timer fails over a summer, a young tree can die in a season. A dead tree of any size dries out and gets brittle, so it is better taken down sooner than left standing.

Stump and replanting

Most owners here want the spot back. Stump grinding goes on the same estimate. We do not plant trees, but our guide on planting after stump grinding explains what the ground needs first.