Lot clearing and brush mowing in Verdi, NV

Verdi sits at about 4,900 feet where the Truckee River comes out of the Sierra, west of Reno. It is small, about 1,000 residents in about 530 homes (American Community Survey, approximate), and we work on the Nevada side only.

At a glance

• About 19.7 inches of precipitation a year at the Reno 9.0 W gauge
• Wildfire risk to homes higher than 98.8% of US communities
• Crystal Fire (1994, 7,392 acres) mapped about 2.6 miles away
• Masticating head, brush mower and tree crew in one outfit

What does more water do to a clearing job?

It grows more to clear, and it grows it back sooner. The Reno 9.0 W gauge, a volunteer-network station about a fifth of a mile from our Verdi map point, averages 19.69 inches a year in the NOAA 1991-2020 normals. Reno-Tahoe International Airport averages 7.35 inches.

On the ground that means brush with thicker stems, more young trees coming up in the gaps and a stronger flush of grass each spring. A mower built for sagebrush flats meets its limit sooner here, so more of the work goes to the masticating head, which grinds brush and small trees into chips where they stand.

How should regrowth be handled?

Plan for it from the first visit. A heavy first clearing opens the ground. After that, lighter return visits keep it open, and each one is easier than letting the lot go back to a thicket and starting over.

Ask at the estimate what follow-up the arborist expects for your ground. Sprouting shrubs and trees are best cut again while the sprouts are small.

Near the river, ask first

Ground along a river, creek or ditch is not like the rest of a lot. Banks are held together by roots, and waterways often carry rules of their own. We have not found a published rule to quote for Verdi, so the advice is simple: before any clearing near the water, ask Washoe County what applies to your parcel. The agency decides, and we follow what it tells you.

Fire is why most Verdi owners call

The USDA Forest Service ranks wildfire risk to homes in Verdi higher than 98.8% of US communities, with 33.0% of buildings in the direct exposure zone and 67.0% in the indirect zone.

The National Interagency Fire Center maps the Crystal Fire of 1994 at 7,392 acres, centred about 2.6 miles from the middle of Verdi. The Belli Ranch Fire of 1996 is mapped at 6,724 acres, about 3.1 miles away, and the Verdi Fire of 2006 at 5,662 acres, about 3.5 miles away. Three large fires with centres inside four miles is a strong record for a place this size.

Clearing a Verdi lot to build

For a home site, lot clearing takes trees, stumps and brush out of the footprint and hauls them in our own dump trucks. Because growth is quick, do not clear long before the builder is ready. The arborist can also tell you which mature trees are sound enough to design around, which is easiest to decide before the plans are final.