Tree Service in Madison, WI

Madison Tree Service Pros is a tree service for Madison homeowners who want a straight answer about a tree before anyone starts a saw. The city sits on a narrow isthmus between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, with older houses packed close together on the east and near west sides and newer subdivisions spread across the rolling glacial ground to the west and south. That mix shapes nearly every job. A wide bur oak over a small bungalow lot needs a different plan than a row of maples behind a 1990s house on a cul-de-sac. We handle tree removal, tree trimming and pruning, stump grinding and storm cleanup across Madison and the rest of Dane County, and we plan around three local realities: the oak rules, the ash trees and the summer storms.

Oak rules that reach your backyard

Madison is one of the few cities where the calendar decides when you may work on an oak. Under Madison General Ordinance 23.40(7), a permit is required to work on any oak in the city between April 1 and October 15, and the city states that this includes private property. The permit is free, it comes through the Urban Forestry office after an inspection by city staff, and the city asks for a bid or consultation from a private arborist as part of the process. The reason is oak wilt. The Wisconsin DNR explains that sap-feeding beetles carry the fungus to fresh wounds, that the disease then spreads between neighboring oaks through grafted roots, and that a red oak usually dies within about a month once it starts to wilt. So we schedule routine oak pruning for the dormant months. When an oak has to be cut during the season, for example after storm damage, the permit comes first and the cuts are sealed right away.

Ash trees after emerald ash borer

The city confirmed emerald ash borer in an ash tree near Warner Park in late 2013. Madison's own planning counted about 20,000 ash street trees, 22 percent of the total, and the city now treats roughly 10,000 ash on a multi-year cycle after removing those that did not qualify. Ash in your yard is your decision, and the city's EAB page is blunt about the stakes: the insect is 100% fatal to an untreated ash. UW Extension guidance does not suggest insecticide for an ash that has already lost more than half its canopy. Dead ash dries out and breaks unpredictably, so a removal that is routine this year can need a lift and slower rigging in two.

Summer windstorms and winter snow

The biggest tree damage in Madison tends to arrive in summer. During the storms of July 5 and 6, 2016, the National Weather Service logged numerous downed trees, downed power lines and streets blocked by trees in Madison, and reported trees in Maple Bluff snapped about halfway up; Madison and Evansville had the worst tree damage in the region. Two weeks later a weather station near Maple Bluff measured a 63 mph gust. Winter brings about 52 inches of snow in an average year and mornings well below zero, which put weight and stress on weak forks and long limbs. Most failures we see after a storm started with a defect someone could have spotted: a tight V-shaped fork, a dead top, a cavity at the base, a limb reaching far over a roof.

Terrace trees belong to the city

The grass strip between the sidewalk and the street is city right-of-way, and Madison's Urban Forestry crews maintain the trees on it. The city prunes, removes and replants terrace trees at no additional cost to the homeowner and discourages residents from trimming them on their own. If the tree that worries you stands on the terrace, call Urban Forestry at 608-266-4816 rather than a private tree company. If it is in your yard, it is yours to care for, and that is the work we do.

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What a typical estimate covers

• A walk around each tree: species, lean, dead wood, cracks, cavities and signs of ash borer or oak wilt
• What sits underneath: roof, garage, deck, fence, garden beds, the alley and the neighbor's yard
• Whether the tree is on your lot or on the city terrace
• Overhead MGE lines and whether the utility needs to act first
• For oaks, whether the work can wait for the dormant season or needs a city permit now
• Access for climbers, ropes, a chipper or a lift
• What happens to logs, chips, brush and the stump
• A written price for each tree, with nothing added unless you approve it

Madison is the center of our service area, from the isthmus and the near east side out to the far west side and the newer neighborhoods along the Beltline. Around it we work in Middleton, Shorewood Hills and Maple Bluff, which border the lakes; Monona, McFarland and Cottage Grove to the southeast; Fitchburg, Verona and Oregon to the south and southwest; Sun Prairie, Waunakee and DeForest to the north and east; and the smaller towns in between. Emerald ash borer and oak wilt are present across Dane County, and summer thunderstorms cross the whole area. What changes from one community to the next is who owns the trees along the street, whether the local code says anything about oaks or brush, and how yard waste gets picked up. Madison's April-to-October oak permit is a city of Madison rule, for example, and neighboring municipalities set their own. Each area page covers what we know about that place.