Tree Service in Reno, NV

Most Tree Service calls we take in Reno begin with one question: who owns the tree? Under the City of Reno's urban forestry rules, a tree on your own lot can be pruned or removed without a permit. A tree in the public right-of-way or on other City property is different. It needs a Tree Work Permit, Urban Forestry inspects it before a permit is issued, and removal is generally approved only when the tree is dead, diseased or a public safety hazard. We sort that out on the first visit so nobody cuts a City tree by mistake.

What the City leaves to homeowners

Reno's Tree FAQ is blunt about the owner's side of the ledger. If roots from a tree on your property lift the sidewalk, the repair is yours. Limbs that hang over the street are yours to keep clear, except for what City crews may cut during an emergency. The City will not prune or remove private trees outside of winter storms or major wind or rain events, and it can require an owner to take down a dead tree that has become a public hazard. That is most of the private work we do here: clearance pruning over streets and sidewalks, removal of dead trees before someone gets hurt, and stump grinding afterward.

A dry city with a thin canopy

The City's own urban forestry page puts Reno's tree canopy at 5.2 percent and says plainly that this is not enough. The airport averages about 7.35 inches of precipitation a year, and the west side of town can see three to four times what the east side gets because of the Sierra rain shadow. Trees in Somersett or the Caughlin area live a different life from trees near the Sparks line. When we look at a declining tree, we ask how it is watered before we blame a pest, because summer drought stress is behind a lot of the thinning crowns we see.

Wind and the afternoon Zephyr

The Truckee Meadows is windy all year, and the afternoon west wind known as the Washoe Zephyr is part of ordinary summer weather. Long, heavy limbs on old elms and cottonwoods take that load every day. Our pruning goal in Reno is usually weight reduction and better structure, not a shorter tree. The City does not allow topping on its own trees and discourages it everywhere, and we agree: topped trees send up weakly attached sprouts that fail in the next big blow.

Wildfire spacing on the west and south edges

The Caughlin Fire in November 2011 was started by arcing power lines and destroyed 26 homes in southwest Reno. About two months later the Washoe Drive Fire destroyed 29 more. In September 2024 the Davis Fire burned into forested parts of southwest Reno and led to evacuation orders for about 20,000 people. Reno Fire's defensible space guidance asks for branches to be kept 10 feet from chimneys and roofs, lower limbs raised at least 6 feet in the zone 5 to 30 feet from the house, and roughly 10 feet between the canopies of Jeffrey pine and white fir. We do that limbing, thinning and removal work for homeowners on the city's wildland edge.

What we handle in Reno

• Pruning private shade trees to current ANSI A300 practice, including clearance over streets and sidewalks
• Removal of dead, split or leaning trees, with rigging when a tree stands over a roof or fence
• Defensible space limbing and thinning near open land
• Stump grinding after removals
• A straight answer when a tree is the City's, with the Urban Forestry phone number so you can report it

Getting an estimate

Call (775) 600-6504 or use the form. We come out, look at each tree with you, and leave a written quote that lists the work tree by tree. Get a free estimate