if a tree falls in the ditch...

...does it still make a sound (a rip-off of a famous question about trees falling in a forest)

Relatively speaking, we don't have many trees in eastern South Dakota. When you're out in the countryside there may look like a good amount of "forest" at eye level across the landscape, but back it off to space and look at say all of my county at once from a satellite like Landsat, and no, you don't see much for trees, except maybe a ribbon of gallery forest along the Big Sioux River. This is a concept I struggle to covey to some of my fellow members of this and other forums that come from truly forested regions. I know some have struggled to wrap their heads around we here in se SD don't really have any forests besides something like Newton Hills or maybe a really thick big shelterbelt.

So watching a graceful (if these trees can be called that) line of old cottonwoods come down on one of the ways to my work place sort of bummed me out last week. I know a lot of people don't like cottonwoods and they are a relatively short-lived tree compared to some common species (125-150 years is about their max life span) but they are about as majestic as we get for trees in eastern SD. Sitting under the shade of one on a hot day on the bank of a river or the edge of a lake is a pretty good deal. But alas trees can't stand in the way of progress or whatever reason this land owner decided cut this long planted row of big trees down. Maybe he did it so he can move his 36-row combine head down the road without having to fold it up. Or maybe he did it because he just could. Hope the cows in that pasture enjoy more sun and find their only shade under a raggedy patch of willows in the corner. I bet they'll mss the old trees some...

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I'm always amazed why people choose to remove trees on their property. Here in the city my company does a lot of tree work. Actually one of the highest profit margins of all, also has a high risk for us. I always try to educate a property owner to the value a tree or trees can add to a property (sometimes $10k per tree). I also point out the liabilities or a risk a tree can pose. I remember once giving a quote for a tree removal, I almost immediately advised that the tree should come down, insect, decay, poor root development, poor pruning in the past, in short the tree was not maintained. On top of that homes had been built on both sides of his property recently, if the tree had came down in a storm, injury to people or property was almost guaranteed. My bid was several thousands of dollars, he said he would have to think it over, and I advised him to make calls to other tree companies. About six weeks after a storm he called me back, wanted to know how much would it cost now, as the storm caused the tree to fall. It was much cheaper now, but he lost his guest house and pool house. He wished he had taken my bid and I wish I had told him about our payment plan!

I remember taking down a 100+ year old cedar, property owner wanted a nice big lawn and grass won't grow around a cedar. I tried to give many alternatives to removing the cedar. Bottom line was the owner wanted it gone and a new landscape in. We started early on a Saturday morning, the tree was so large, it required a small street be closed for a couple of hours. We had pulled and secured needed permits from city. Closing of the street, caused neighbors to ask us, what are you guys doing? When people found out this tree was coming down, I thought we would have a riot. The police were called, city inspectors called out and pretty soon TV crew came! We ended up advising owner we would have to put this one on hold. We ended up cutting it down the very next Saturday, property owner, his lawyer, police, TV crews and the tree huggers all spectators. A job I wish I had not done at all, it was a landmark tree, not worth the bad publicity it brought our way and could have been left standing with just a little less lawn!

There WAS a very nice old farm site across the road from relatives of mine that had MANY old oak trees with some being very old. It WAS a beautiful grove of trees.

BUT when the farmland values went way up the owners paid to have all trees removed and then bulldozed the property and turned it into plow ground.

Then the farmland property values went down and they lost it all. If they would of left that property as it was they could of sold it for BIG money as people with the cash were lining up for such properties at the time. They could of saved their other property from being taken away by the bank.

Most oak tress are "protected" trees here in California, protected by either state, county or city laws. In-fact most trees in a lot of cities require a permit to trim. Almost any tree of 18 inch in circumference will probably require a permit in most cities now, considered "landmark" trees. That old cedar I tell about in above post, more than likely WOULD NOT be permitted for removal in most cities in California.

Yeah, estimates for tree removal can vary wildly depending how busy a certain service ("I'm really busy but if they pay me enough I'll do it first") to how desperate a land owner is to have one removed. Our first house had a fairly big locust tree (the one without spines--honey??) that had gotten carpenter ants into it so it ended up losing one of its main limbs during an ice storm so we decided to take it down the next warm season. Besides, the wifey hated all the little leaflets that were about impossible to rack come the fall. She got about half a dozen bids and they ranged from $600 to $1,800. I forgot why we didn't go with the cheapest one but it ended up costing us about $900 to have it taken down and the stump ground up. And ours was an easy street to do the work on.

Yeah, potentially some good money for the work but it is dangerous and a guy has to know what he's doing when dropping big limbs and trunks. The laws of physics apply....

My house sits on a 2 acre lot with over 25 trees that are over 100 years old. The lot alone is worth 50k (coming from an area where a bare 2 acre lot can be bought for 20k).
Farms around here are cutting every fence row out, leveling woods and other wooded areas. Even hauling in dirt to fill in swamps! Its crazy what these guys will do/pay to get more ground.

One reason it is so expensive to cut trees near houses is the liability insurance. insurance for this is much more expensive than for cutting them in "safe" areas.

Make sure you get more proof of insurance than just a business card saying "fully insured". accidents do happen, and so do under trained workers.

I always loved the look of property's in the south with tree rows well planted many years ago either field side, down roads or driveways.
we had 110 acres logged this summer.. but logging has come a long way I can look at the hill from a distance and all you see are tree's. landowners, forestry, and loggers work together for the good of the land and bottom line to try and do what's best for people and environment.
It's a constant battle when you live "in the woods" if you don't cut or have someone cut the woods will retake whatever land is open and it doesn't take too long.
I personally have been cutting tree's since 9 or 10.. me and my buddies would axe a few down to build forts.. never forget that 50 ft birch tree we hacked down. Started bucking logs and limb work with a chainsaw around 13 and cutting down tree's at 17. You start small and learn the basics then work your way up to larger and larger tree's. It's dangerous work for sure and the prices you have put up are on par even here and what I charge.. mostly insurance cost is what drives price.
On the other hand I have planted hundreds if not over a thousand tree's that will be here long after my death as proper placement is not common these day's with "landscapers" who plant them so close together or close to houses with no thought of 40,50, 100 years into it's growth. We have also saved countless tree's from untimely death from the crowns getting buried during lot development and also damage from the same.
I respect old tree's they have their place and I let them be.
we recently had a new septic system put in and I had to take down my only shade tree that reached the back of the house. It was not something I wanted to do... but my hands were tied.
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71 ft white pine, but it will live on as a 3 sections are going down to a good friend who built a sawmill out of scrap and was willing to trade labor to slab it up into siding that will be put on my sugar shack.
I will miss the shade but it will give me protection from the wind rain and snow come early march..

Those big white pines are majestic. I've seen a few in travels in the northeast. They were one of the first species targeted by industrial scale logging between after the Civil War and 1900. Most old growth white pine in the U.S. (the Northeast and the Great Lake states) were cut between 1850 and 1900. Good thing trees can regrow. Besides the occasional secluded patch of actual old growth white pine that escaped the ax and 2-man saw, there are patches of them now reaching "old growth" status (what is that for a white pine 150-200 years?) on farmland that went back to forest starting around the 1830s and onwards. Land change is interesting to watch, especially in comparing old photos of spots with what's there today or old aerial photos compared to new ones or changes in Earth observing satellites, although they've only been around for 50 years or less.