Tree service in Sandpoint? (Teton, Clark Fork: insurance, camps, live)

[Stepney]

Can anybody recommend a reliable and reasonable tree service for fire abatement. Need to get some trees removed and/or trimmed to satisfy the insurance company. Thanks for any help.

[mistyriver]

We've had very good luck with American Tree Service. They do a great job and don't leave a mess.
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[Stepney]

Thank you. We'll give then a call. Will want to get several bids.

[tim959]

If you need help finding a tree service company I would use TreeServiceFinder.com. They basically break down each tree service company by state and regions so you can find a company near you.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Glad this thread was bumped. We're going to need tree service in NID next summer--a lot of our white pines are turning red. We have lots of different trees, thank goodness, but we do have a lot of white pines, and it was a sad sight to see so many of the younger trees having gone all red when we came up to our property in July. The blight, or whatever it is, seems to start low and creep upward. The older, tall white pines seem to be doing better. I noticed that young white pines weren't doing well elsewhere i Clark Fork, either. Is anyone else having problems with their white pines? What do you think it might be? We've got lots of gophers, so I'm wondering if they might be spreading a white pine disease--?

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by Clark Fork Fantast

Glad this thread was bumped. We're going to need tree service in NID next summer--a lot of our white pines are turning red. We have lots of different trees, thank goodness, but we do have a lot of white pines, and it was a sad sight to see so many of the younger trees having gone all red when we came up to our property in July. The blight, or whatever it is, seems to start low and creep upward. The older, tall white pines seem to be doing better. I noticed that young white pines weren't doing well elsewhere i Clark Fork, either. Is anyone else having problems with their white pines? What do you think it might be? We've got lots of gophers, so I'm wondering if they might be spreading a white pine disease--?

It might be a Rocky Mountain Pine Beetle infestation. The beetles come and go; a string of a few hard cold winters tends to stop the infestations, and it's been a while since we have had several long and very cold winters in a row. The 80s were cold, and the last half of the 90s, but since the turn of the century, we haven't had 2-3 years of prolonged winter, and that's what it seems to take to stop the beetles.

When I was a kid, I worked in Yellowstone for part of one summer spraying the pines with a mix of DDT and Diesel oil as an effort to kill an infestation. It didn't work, and I got a pretty good dose of DDT before I quit the job after a couple of weeks. I was mighty happy to quit, for sure, and I've always wondered how the other guys who stuck it out all summer did later on with possible health problems. No one could ever clean up much in the camp, and the mix was everywhere, all around the campsite.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Thanks, Mike. It actually looks like it might be Dohistroma, or Red Band Disease. I just did an Internet search. It's pretty serious in WA, ID, and OR, but it can be treated with a fungicide in late spring before the new needles come out. So next June we should consult a tree guy and have our favorite white pines treated, if they're still alive. We've got several along the driveway that are really nice, so we'd hate to lose them...

[Publius4]

Just to clarify a technicality - the pine beetle doesn't directly kill the tree, it's a vector. As it bores into the tree, it brings with it a fungi. The fungi, nature's decomposer, is what kills the tree.

CFF - Typically, when a fungus or insect attacks a tree it's because there's an over-abundance of a single tree species in the same area or because the tree is weakened (just like we are more susceptible to sickness when our immune system is weakened). This is usually a result of a nutrient deficiency in the soil surrounding the infected trees. Though you may not be able to save the trees which are already infected, you might be able to prevent the affliction from spreading by increasing soil fertility around the trees. It will strengthen the trees' natural immune system which will deter infestation. This is likely a more affordable alternative to chemical sprays and it's non-toxic (win-win).

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by Publius4

Just to clarify a technicality - the pine beetle doesn't directly kill the tree, it's a vector. As it bores into the tree, it brings with it a fungi. The fungi, nature's decomposer, is what kills the tree.

CFF - Typically, when a fungus or insect attacks a tree it's because there's an over-abundance of a single tree species in the same area or because the tree is weakened (just like we are more susceptible to sickness when our immune system is weakened). This is usually a result of a nutrient deficiency in the soil surrounding the infected trees. Though you may not be able to save the trees which are already infected, you might be able to prevent the affliction from spreading by increasing soil fertility around the trees. It will strengthen the trees' natural immune system which will deter infestation. This is likely a more affordable alternative to chemical sprays and it's non-toxic (win-win).

Thanks, Publius.
I remember that the entire spraying effort in Yellowstone and Teton stopped soon afterward, due to it's ineffectiveness. The beetle infestation was probably in lodgepole pines; I can't remember any more, but they're the most common pine in that area.