Boise neighborhood
Southwest Boise tree service for acreage and windbreaks
Southwest Boise looks different from the rest of the city. Many properties began as rural Ada County lots, and tree service in Southwest Boise often means windbreak rows, ditch-bank cottonwoods and big conifers spread across half an acre or more.
Local notes
Semi-rural roots
Southwest Boise is centered on Cole, Maple Grove and Five Mile Roads south of the interstate, with Victory, Lake Hazel and Amity Roads as the main east-west routes. The City’s Southwest Planning Area chapter explains that many older subdivisions here were built in the 1960s and 1970s while the land was still in rural Ada County, and that widespread septic failures in the early 1980s led to sewer service and later annexation. Large-lot neighborhoods, pastures and open fencing still give the area a semi-rural feel.
Five Mile Creek, Eight Mile Creek, the New York Canal and a web of laterals cross the area, and some parcels remain under Ada County rather than City rules.
On the job
Windbreak rows, ditch banks and long driveways
Old windbreaks of Siberian elm, poplar, Russian olive and willow are common, and many are now dying from the top down or dropping limbs into pastures and over fences. Cottonwoods along ditches get very tall. Dead trees are often left to stand for years on big lots until they threaten a barn, a fence line or the house.
Space usually helps, because we can bring a chipper close and drop trees that would have to be sectioned elsewhere. The trade-off is longer haul distances and soft ground near ditches. Common work includes removing dead windbreak trees, clearing limbs off long driveways for fire trucks and delivery vehicles, and pulling stumps where a new fence or arena is going in.
Common questions
Southwest Boise tree questions
Can you remove trees along the irrigation ditch on my property?
Usually yes, but the irrigation district or ditch company may have rights along the bank and rules about debris in the water. We confirm who controls the ditch and plan so nothing ends up in the channel.
Do City tree permits apply to my Southwest Boise acreage?
If your parcel is inside Boise city limits, yes. Boise City Code 7-2-9 applies to every elm in the city, public or private, and requires a free City Forester permit. Parcels still in unincorporated Ada County fall under County rules instead, so tell us which applies.
Should I take out the whole windbreak or just the dead trees?
It depends on what the windbreak still does for you. Removing only the dead and failing trees and replanting gaps keeps the shelter. If most of the row is declining, phased replacement is often the better plan.
Talk to us about your tree
Dead windbreak or ditch-bank tree in Southwest Boise? Call us.
Tell us the road, roughly how many trees and how close they are to buildings or water.