Tree removal in Verdi, NV

Verdi is a community of about 1,000 people on the Truckee River at the west edge of Washoe County, at about 4,897 feet. It has homes from before 1960 and homes from the past few years, with river-bottom trees below and pine slopes above.

At a glance

• About 19.7 inches of precipitation a year at the Reno 9.0 W station in Verdi
• Wildfire risk to homes higher than 98.8% of US communities
• About 13% of homes built before 1960
• About 54 minutes from our yard without traffic

Why are Verdi's trees larger?

Water. Central Reno's nearest normals station records about 9.2 inches of precipitation a year. The Reno 9.0 W station, a fifth of a mile from the middle of Verdi, records about 19.7 inches (NOAA 1991-2020 normals). Add the river and its side channels, and trees here grow faster and taller than the same species a few miles east.

Bigger trees mean heavier wood, longer limbs over roofs and more to plan. They also mean that when a tree fails, it does more damage.

River bottom or hillside?

The two settings call for different work. Near the river the ground can be soft, and the arborist checks whether it will carry a truck before sending one in. Where it will not, the crew climbs. On the slopes the trees are conifers among brush, and the question is more often which ones to thin than whether one must go.

For the big river trees, see cottonwoods: keep, prune or remove.

A canyon with a fire history

The USDA Forest Service ranks Verdi's wildfire risk to homes higher than 98.8% of US communities and about 89% of Nevada communities. About a third of buildings are in the direct exposure zone. The 1994 Crystal Fire (7,392 acres), the 1996 Belli Ranch Fire (6,724 acres) and the 2006 Verdi Fire (5,662 acres) each have a mapped centre within about 4 miles.

That record is the reason many Verdi removals are dead or crowded conifers close to a house. The plan for the rest of the lot is on our Verdi defensible space page.

Old homes, new homes

Verdi is small, so Census figures are approximate: about 13% of homes predate 1960, about a quarter predate 1980, and about a quarter have been built since 2000. On the older places, trees and buildings have grown into each other. On the newer ones, native trees are sometimes left standing close to fresh foundations, and not all of them survive the change. A tree that declines after construction should be looked at by an arborist.

Hauling out

Large-diameter wood is heavy. The track loader moves it to the trucks, and brush goes through the chipper. If part of your parcel needs opening up as well, the same crew does lot clearing and brush mowing.