Tree Removal in Buffalo, NY

Tree removal in Buffalo is shaped by the lake. The city averages roughly 95 inches of snow a year, much of it lake-effect off Lake Erie, and the strong southwest winds that come across the water have a long record of knocking trees over: on November 6, 1990, the National Weather Service measured a 61 mph gust at the Buffalo airport, with trees and power lines down across the region. Put that weather together with a city where most houses were built before 1940, on lots so narrow that a double and its neighbor are separated by one driveway, and a mature maple or ash almost never has open ground to fall into. Most of what we do is taking those trees apart from the top down, lowering each piece where it can land safely, and leaving the roof next door untouched.

What October 2006 taught Buffalo about trees

On October 12 and 13, 2006, more than 22 inches of heavy snow fell on Buffalo while the trees still had their leaves. Limbs and whole crowns broke across the city, wires came down with them, and hundreds of thousands of customers lost power. A National Grid official later said the city lost its tree canopy, and the volunteer group Re-Tree WNY has planted more than 30,000 trees since 2007 to replace what was lost. Many trees that survived that storm still carry its marks: stubs where big limbs tore out, and decay that worked in through those wounds and now shows up as hollows, conks or soft wood at old breaks. When we look at an older Buffalo tree, we look for those scars.

Ash and beech are both in decline

Emerald ash borer was first confirmed in Erie County in June 2011, in a few trees in South Park in South Buffalo, and it showed up near the airport in Lancaster the same year. By 2016, reporting from the county put ash at about one in five trees, and towns were spending real money on them: Amherst budgeted $500,000 to save 9,000 ash, and Cheektowaga took down 200 infested ash in its town park. An ash killed by the borer dries out and turns brittle, so a removal that is routine while the tree is alive can turn into a job for an aerial lift or a crane once it has stood dead for a few seasons. Beech is next in line. Beech leaf disease reached Erie County in 2019, has no known treatment, and can kill a mature beech within six to ten years.

A city full of maples

A U.S. Forest Service study of street trees in four cities, Buffalo among them, found that Norway maple made up more than 36 percent of the large trees and maples of all kinds more than 54 percent. Maples are why so many Buffalo streets feel shaded, and they are also why so many storm calls involve one. Norway maples carry dense crowns that hold wet snow, and they often develop girdling roots that choke the trunk at the soil line. Silver maples grow fast and have weak wood with tight forks that split. The black spots many people see on maple leaves in late summer are tar spot, which the city's Forestry office notes is not lethal.

Whose tree is it?

In Buffalo, the strip between the sidewalk and the curb belongs to the city, and so do the trees in it. The Bureau of Forestry takes requests through 311 and removes a street tree when it is dead or dying, structurally unsound in a way pruning cannot fix, or diseased in a way that can spread. Private work on a city tree needs a no-fee Tree Work Permit filed at least 30 days ahead and a city-licensed contractor, and damaging a city tree without permission can bring a fine of up to $1,500. A tree on your own lot is yours to remove, and so is the responsibility if it falls.

Wires, wet clay and timing

National Grid trims around its high-voltage lines, but the service drop that runs from the pole to your house is the homeowner's responsibility. National Grid asks for at least five days' notice to schedule a temporary disconnect so tree work can be done safely, and work within 10 feet of a line should be done only by workers trained for it. Much of the land north and east of the city is old glacial lake plain with clay-rich, poorly drained soil, which keeps roots shallow and lets trees tip when the ground is soaked in spring. Winter, when the ground is frozen, is often the easiest time to take a tree out of a back yard without rutting the lawn.

Call (716) 475-9224 or send the form for a free on-site estimate. Get a free estimate

Buffalo itself comes first: Elmwood Village and the West Side, Parkside and North Buffalo near Delaware Park, Black Rock and Riverside along the Niagara, South Buffalo around Cazenovia and South Park, and the East Side neighborhoods where many lots have stood half-empty and trees have grown up unmanaged. City jobs usually mean tight access, overhead wires along the lot lines and a check on whether the tree is a city street tree.

From there we work through the inner ring and beyond. Kenmore and the Town of Tonawanda have the same narrow lots and old street trees as the city. Amherst, Williamsville and Clarence have bigger yards, more open woods and the wet lake-plain soils that let trees tip over in spring storms. Cheektowaga, Depew and Lancaster still have ash scattered through back yards. West Seneca, Lackawanna, Orchard Park and Hamburg in the Southtowns get some of the heaviest lake-effect bands, and the ground gets hillier the farther south you go. Grand Island has wide lots, shoreline wind and woodland edges. If you are near Buffalo and not sure we cover your street, call and ask.