Tree Care Consultation

Trees can get sick. Insects and disease (biotic causes), or weather stress, construction injuries, herbicides (abiotic causes), are but a few of the potential challenges to your tree’s health. We can diagnose the problem and where possible, prescribe appropriate treatments.

Trees can pose a risk to people, property, structures, power lines, even passing traffic and pedestrians. Customers sometimes need such risk assessed by an expert for personal or legal reasons.
Many factors contribute to an accurate assessment of a tree’s safety, including its species, health—both above and below ground, branch structure, exposure to wind, and the history of the site where it grows, to name a few.
Presently we perform a Basic Assessment, essentially a walk-around, looking at the tree(s) and site, combined with an interview with the client to gather information concerning past history of site changes during the life of the tree(s) in question. Skywalker’s ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, Michael, has the benefit of a 40+ years of experience in our area regarding tree and branch failures, and is quite able to spot many potential hazards with a Basic Assessment. The Basic Assessment is usually all you’ll need. He can prepare a professional written report if requested.
An Advanced Assessment may be indicated after the basic, depending on the situation. This may include aerial, internal and root assessment. Michael can perform the aerial assessment, but Skywalker needs to add a few very expensive tools to do a good job at the internal and root assessments. We plan to add these to the tool chest soon.

Construction is one of the leading causes of tree health problems and death. Grade level changes, excavations, and trenching are some of the more obvious root zone injuries. Root zone soil compaction by heavy machinery and other vehicles is also common. Above ground, the process of construction can inadvertently scar trunks and damage or break branches. Injured trees often take several years to decline and die. The dying process can increase its hazard potential, ending with an expensive take down. Plus, you’ve lost your valuable tree. It may take many years for the replacement to grow. You can take steps to prevent most of these problems, however. We will help you keep those special trees by planning ahead with the builder/architect.

If you live in the forested rural areas of North Idaho, wildfire is an annual possibility. We can provide valuable advice on reducing your exposure to wild fire. Arborist Michael (in his other life) has 18 years experience in the fire service: 7 years in a big city, and 11 years volunteering locally (9 years Asst. Chief). For many years, we were a vendor for the Bonfire (Bonner County) and Boundary FireSafe programs. In addition, we own a 2800 gallon Wildland Type II Water Tender which we use for contracting with the USFS. As you can see, Skywalker has the experience necessary to advise wisely on fire risk and prevention.

Caution: When fires happen, it’s often extreme weather events which drive the fire. We can only provide advice to reduce, not eliminate the threat of fire to your home.

How much is your tree worth? We use the methodology from the Guide for Plant Appraisal, 10th edition, combined with our experience and expertise to place a monetary value on your tree. Valuations are useful for real estate purposes, damage claims, tree inventories and insurance purposes (and bragging rights—just kidding).

Arborist Michael also has an education background (B.S. Forestry) and experience in forest management. If you’re looking for sound advice on managing a small piece of forested land, give Michael a call. We don’t set up large scale logging projects. There are other companies which do this well.