Hazardous and dead tree removal

What we look for.

Mushrooms or conks at the base, which usually mean root or butt rot that you cannot see. Cavities and hollow trunks. Cracks running vertically up the stem. Tight V-shaped unions with bark pinched inside them -- included bark -- which is a classic split-in-a-storm setup. A recent lean with soil heaved on the opposite side of the trunk. Big deadwood held up in the canopy. Whole-canopy dieback or bare branch tips well into the growing season.

Dead trees get more dangerous to remove every year.

This is the part homeowners underestimate. A tree that died last season is still sound enough to climb and rig. Three years on, the wood has punked out, limbs fail when you load them, and the safe way to take it down involves a lift or a crane instead of a climber -- which costs considerably more. Waiting almost never saves money on a dead tree.

Sometimes the honest answer is that it can stay.

Not every ugly tree is a hazard, and not every hazard needs removal. A single failing leader can be reduced. A codominant stem can be cabled or braced. Deadwood can come out and the tree keeps standing. We would rather tell you the truth about the risk and let you decide than sell a removal that is not needed -- there is enough real work in this valley without inventing it.

Hazard work covers

• Standing dead and declining trees over structures, drives and play areas
• Leaning trees with heaved or cracked soil at the root plate
• Split trunks, cracked leaders and storm-damaged crowns
• Trees with root or butt rot, conks and hollow stems
• Deadwood removal where the tree itself is worth keeping
• A straight assessment of whether it actually needs to come down