Tree removal in Stagecoach, NV

Stagecoach is a Lyon County community on US Highway 50 east of Dayton, with about 880 homes on roughly 8 square miles. Nearly half are manufactured homes. The country is open, and a mature tree is something an owner has watered for decades.

At a glance

• About 49% of Stagecoach homes are manufactured homes
• Nearest gauge averages about 6.2 inches of precipitation a year
• About 40% of buildings in the direct wildfire exposure zone
• About 23 miles from our yard, about 34 minutes without traffic

Why do desert shade trees fail?

They live on borrowed water. The nearest gauge with NOAA normals, Silver Springs 6.6 SSW, about 8 miles from Stagecoach, averages about 6.2 inches of precipitation a year. A large tree needs many times that, and every bit of the difference comes from a hose, a ditch or a drip line.

When a well fails, a property changes hands or a line cracks, the tree goes without. The crown thins, upper limbs die, and the dead wood starts to drop. Tough species such as the Siberian elm hang on longest, which is why they are on so many older lots in rural Nevada. See Siberian elms: the tree on every old Nevada lot. When most of the crown is dead, removal is usually what the arborist recommends.

What is the risk beside a manufactured home?

A shade tree is planted close on purpose, on the side where the afternoon sun hits. Decades later the trunk may be a few feet from the wall, with limbs over the roof, the awning and the service line.

The crew works such a tree from the top down in small pieces, by climber or from the bucket of the boom truck, so nothing heavy swings toward the home. A certified arborist looks at the tree and the space around it before the method is set.

Wind, open ground and broken trees

Nothing shelters a tree on an open lot. A long limb that has grown out over the years carries a lot of leverage in a wind storm, more so if the wood is half dead. If a limb is hanging or a trunk has cracked, keep away from it. Call 911 if anyone is hurt, call NV Energy and stay back if a wire is involved, and then call 775.232.8243. Our guide on widow-makers and hanging limbs explains why these are left to a trained crew.

Is fire a concern in open country?

Yes. Grass and brush fires move fast here. The Forest Service ranks Stagecoach's risk to homes higher than about 94% of US communities, with about 40% of buildings in the direct exposure zone and 60% in the indirect zone. Ten fires of 300 acres or more have been mapped within about 10 miles since 1980, among them the 1985 Gooseberry Fire (29,296 acres), the 2018 Chaves Fire (3,438 acres) and the 2017 Micro Fire (1,549 acres).

A dead tree next to a home is dry fuel in the worst place. Taking it out, and clearing the brush that has grown up around its base, is covered under defensible space in Stagecoach.

What happens to the tree afterward?

Brush is chipped and wood is hauled, or left for you if you ask. Chips can be left as well. On an open lot there is usually room for the trucks, which keeps the job short. The estimate is free and says exactly what is included.