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Who Is Liable if a Neighbor’s Dead Tree Fell on Your Property?

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Who Is Liable if a Neighbor’s Dead Tree Fell on Your Property? When a dead tree falls on your property, you likely will clean it up and deal with any damage on your own. But, what if it is not your tree? What if, instead, it is your neighbor’s tree that fell? Perhaps he or she did not take care of it. In that situation, you may be wondering what to do about the damage to your property. Your home or car could have been struck. Your fence may be flat. What insurance is going to pay for this? Who is liable? In most situations, your insurance policy will provide coverage for this type of incident for the damage to your property. However, if you can prove your neighbor was negligent in caring for the dead or dying tree, it could easily become their insurance company’s problem. Homeowners are responsible for acting reasonably in caring for their trees and other property. If a tree falls on your property, it is a good idea to call your insurance company to discuss the options. In fact...
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Why is cutting down trees bad?

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Why is cutting down trees bad? Cutting down trees severely affects the habitats of forest-dwelling flora and fauna, which can eventually lead to extinction of vulnerable species. In addition to causing soil erosion, deforestation also results in larger amounts of greenhouse gases reaching the atmosphere because trees cannot absorb carbon dioxide once they’re cut down. Around 70 percent of the world’s flora and fauna lives in forests. As trees get cut down, plant and animal populations dwindle, which endangers the livelihood of the human population that depends on the forests for food, medicine and other products. In certain parts of Southeast Asia, deforestation has led to migration and social conflicts. Trees normally mitigate the effects of air pollution caused by the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. As trees get cut down, the burning of fossil fuels required to operate wood-cutting machinery and large transportation vehicles further exacerbates the pollutio...
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What are the alternatives?

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What are the alternatives? In order to avoid topping, newly planted trees should be properly pruned to develop a good branch structure as they grow. When a mature tree's height must be reduced, an alternative to topping is drop-crotching . Drop-crotching is a type of thinning cut that reduces a tree's size while preserving its natural shape. To drop-crotch, select and cut higher branches back to laterals at least one-third the diameter of the limbs being removed. Cut outside the branch collar at a 45 to 60 degree angle to the branch bark ridge. Leave the branch collar intact to help prevent decay from entering the trunk. This type of thinning cut will stimulate growth throughout the tree and discourage water sprout development. Whenever removing limbs greater than 1 inch in diameter, use the three-cut method to avoid tearing bark. First, about 12 inches from the trunk, cut halfway through the limb from the underside. Second, about 1 inch past the first cut, cut throug...
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Why are trees topped?

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Why are trees topped? Some homeowners and unprofessional tree pruners practice topping whenever trees reach an undesirable height. They mistakenly believe that topping will reduce the storm hazard of falling branches, when in fact, topping has the opposite effect. People also top trees when they interfere with utility wires, buildings, solar collectors, or sunny garden areas. Selection of trees that only reach desired maximum heights eliminates severe pruning later. If you must prune a tree heavily every five to seven years, the tree is too large for the site. Replace it with a smaller species. The National Arborist Association considers topping an unacceptable practice and advises against it. Unfortunately, even some legitimate tree service companies indiscriminately top trees. Before selecting a tree service, find out which companies advocate topping and avoid patronizing them. Why are trees topped? Please visit here: http://treeagenebraska
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How does topping damage trees?

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How does topping damage trees? Topping occurs when the vertical stem ( leader ) and upper primary limbs ( scaffold branches ) on mature trees are cut back to stubs at uniform height. Topping is also referred to as heading, stubbing, or dehorning. 1) Topping reduces food-making capacity . Trees require a large leaf surface area to provide food for maintenance and growth. Topping cuts off a major portion of the tree's food making potential and depletes the tree's stored reserves. 2) Topping stimulates undesirable "water sprout" growth . While removing most of the buds that would form a normal branch system, topping often stimulates the regrowth of dense, unattractive, upright branches (water sprouts) just below the pruning cut. Water sprout regrowth is vigorous. A topped tree will rapidly return to its original height, but will lack its original form 3) Topping leaves large wounds . The branch wounds left from topping are slow to close, therefore more vulne...
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How to Safely Drop Large Trees with a Chainsaw

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How to Safely Drop Large Trees with a Chainsaw One of the most common ways I see people mis-using a chainsaw is when they are cutting down large trees. Hinge-cutting is a popular technique for enhancing deer habitat, but this technique is best for small trees that you can easily handle. It’s not safe to attempt to hinge-cut large trees, for reasons I will explain. The trouble is, it’s tough to define “large” in terms of trunk diameter, because tree species vary in density and other characteristics that make them handle differently when cut, and even “small” trees can hurt you if you aren’t careful. Err on the side of caution: If in doubt when studying a particular tree, consider it “large.” Here’s what people tend to do WRONG: They walk right up to these large trees and make a single felling cut, right into the trunk of the tree, and saw until the tree falls. Often this works, and no one gets hurt, and nothing valuable is destroyed. But these people should consider themselve...
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Fell in the Right Direction The term “directional felling” is when you make the tree fall in a chosen direction. Now that you have already chosen the direction you want the tree to fall, you have to make it fall that way. To do this, you first make a “directional cut” and then a “felling cut” and the tree should fall the way you want it to. To properly use a chainsaw to fell a tree, you start with a directional cut. Start with your feet apart and your left shoulder leaned up against the tree trunk. Your top, front hand should be on the handle and facing the felling direction. The first part of a directional cut is a top cut. Using full throttle on your saw, start high and make a downward cut of about 60 degrees and about ¼ to 1/5 of the trunks diameter in length. Next is your bottom directional cut. Using full throttle again, start low and cut upwards of about 30 degrees and stop exactly when you reach your top directional cut. Do not stop short or cut any farther. If do...
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