Tree removal in Virginia City, NV

Virginia City packs about 340 homes onto less than one square mile of hillside. The Forest Service ranks its wildfire risk to homes higher than 99.4% of US communities, the highest figure for any town we serve, and its weather station records about 46 inches of snow a year.

At a glance

• Median home built in 1956; about 54% built before 1960
• Wildfire risk to homes higher than 99.4% of US communities
• Virginia City station averages about 46.4 inches of snow a year
• About 11 miles from our yard, about 16 minutes without traffic

How do you remove a tree on a street this steep?

By working out the setup before anything else. The streets run in terraces across the slope, so a tree is often above one building and below another, with a retaining wall somewhere in between. The arborist looks for a level spot where the crane or boom truck can put its outriggers down, checks what the ground under them is made of, and notes every wire overhead.

Where a truck can reach, the crane lifts sections up and over to the street. Where it cannot, a climber lowers small pieces on ropes and the crew carries them out. The page on crane-assisted removal in Virginia City goes further into the choice.

Why do old buildings change the plan?

About 76% of homes here were built before 1980 and about 54% before 1960 (American Community Survey; a town of about 640 people, so the shares are approximate). Old roofs, porches, chimneys and stone walls do not take an impact well and are hard to repair to match. Sections are cut smaller, lowered slower and landed farther from the structure than on a modern lot.

If your building is a historic property, check with Storey County before the work about anything it requires. The county decides.

What does snow do to trees up here?

The Virginia City NOAA station averages about 46.4 inches of snow and 11.7 inches of precipitation a year (1991-2020 normals), more than three times Carson City's snowfall. Heavy snow breaks limbs and occasionally brings down whole trees. After a storm, look for hanging limbs before walking under any tree. Heavy wet snow and broken limbs explains what to do the morning after.

How does a 99th-percentile fire ranking affect removals?

It makes dead trees urgent. Besides the national rank, Virginia City's risk to homes is higher than about 95% of Nevada communities, with about 25% of buildings in the direct exposure zone and 75% in the indirect zone. Nineteen fires of 300 acres or more have been mapped within about 10 miles since 1980, including the 2006 Linehan Fire (5,863 acres), the 2004 Andrew Fire (2,693 acres) and the 2024 Davis Fire (5,824 acres).

Old buildings set close together leave little margin. Dead trees, and conifers touching a structure, are the first removals in any defensible space plan for Virginia City.

Wood for the stove

About 26% of Virginia City households heat mainly with wood. If you want the trunk wood left, tell the estimator and it goes on the free estimate.