Tree Service in Boise, ID

Good tree service in Boise starts with an odd fact: most of the big trees here were planted. The Treasure Valley is cool semi-arid country that gets about 12 inches of precipitation a year, and the shade that earned Boise the name City of Trees grew from settlers who planted on purpose. Thomas J. Davis set out several thousand fruit trees in 1864, downtown planting took off in the 1870s, and in 1907 Davis gave 43 acres of his orchard to the city for Julia Davis Park. Many of the oldest trees in the North End and along the river are now reaching the age where limbs fail, trunks decay and roots run out of room. That is most of what Pro Tree Service Boise does: deciding whether a mature tree can be kept, cutting it back properly if it can, and taking it down safely if it cannot.

Heat, dry air and irrigation

Boise sees roughly 55 days a year at 90 degrees or hotter and about nine at 100 or more, and the swing between afternoon and night often tops 30 degrees. Big shade trees in this climate survive on irrigation. When a yard goes from lawn to gravel, a sprinkler zone is shut off, or a new patio cuts across the root zone, the tree may not show it for a year or two, then the top starts to thin and dead branches appear high in the crown. We look for that pattern, and we will tell you whether we think the tree is declining or just needs dead wood cleaned out.

Snow, wind and summer storms

Boise averages about 18 inches of snow a year, usually in bouts of three inches or less, so snow load is a smaller worry here than in many northern cities. The real risk is a wet snow that arrives while deciduous trees still have leaves, or a late one after they leaf out, when every branch catches far more weight than it would bare. Summer thunderstorms bring short, hard gusts as well. Tornadoes are rare: only twelve have been recorded in Ada County since 1950, none stronger than F1. Most storm damage we see comes from limbs that were already weak, with old cracks, decay or tight V-shaped forks.

Street trees belong to a city program

In Boise, trees along streets and in the public right-of-way fall under Community Forestry. The city removes dead, diseased or hazardous right-of-way trees at no cost to the neighboring homeowner, and its forestry specialists, who are ISA certified arborists, inspect public trees for free on request at (208) 608-7700. Routine pruning of those trees, though, is the adjacent owner's responsibility, and the city's own pruning cycle comes around only about every seven to eight years. A homeowner can get a free permit to hire a city-licensed tree service to prune a right-of-way tree, but cannot remove one without the city's approval. If the tree you are worried about stands between the sidewalk and the street, we will tell you before quoting so the right permit or city request comes first.

Historic districts and the foothills

If your house is in one of Boise's historic districts, such as Harrison Boulevard or Warm Springs, the city says removing a tree likely requires a Certificate of Appropriateness before any cutting. Up in the foothills, the question is fire. Boise has designated wildland-urban interface areas with their own building and fire codes, and the Oregon Trail Fire on August 25, 2008 destroyed ten homes in southeast Boise. Pruning branches away from roofs, removing ladder fuels and taking out dead trees are tree work as much as fire work, and we plan them with both in mind.

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What we check at a free estimate

• Species, dead wood, cracks, lean and any decay or fungus near the base
• What sits under the tree: roof, fence, driveway, garden, a neighbor's yard
• Whether the tree is private, in the city right-of-way or in a historic district
• Idaho Power lines through or near the canopy
• Sprinkler heads, drip lines and access for a chipper or lift
• What happens to logs, chips, brush and the stump, all priced in writing

Boise is home base, from the North End, East End and Warm Springs to the Bench, Southeast Boise and the West Bench subdivisions. Around it we work across Ada County and into Canyon County: Garden City and Eagle along the Boise River, Meridian and Star to the west, Kuna to the south, and Nampa and Caldwell farther down the valley. The work changes with the ground. Close-in Boise neighborhoods have the oldest and largest trees, often on smaller lots with alleys and overhead wires. Southwest Boise still has many larger lots from the 1960s through the 1980s. The newer suburbs west of town have younger trees that need structural pruning more than removal, while homes on the foothills edge sit next to sagebrush and wildfire risk. In Caldwell, the state has been treating an established Japanese beetle infestation found in 2021, a pest worth watching on lindens, birches, maples and fruit trees. Each area page covers what we know about that place.