Tree Removal

Quote from Earth Justice- “THE BIODIVERSITY CRISIS: AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO OUR SURVIVAL Other species make the earth habitable for humans. The more variety of plant and animal life or biodiversity - The healthier we are.”

What are the drivers causing species diet off?

  • Habitat Destruction

  • Chemical Pollution

  • Over Consupmption of Resources

  • Climate Change

Tips on when to remove/trim trees, reduce wildlife destruction, and increase climate resilience

When to remove a tree:

Outside of major nesting and bat maternity season: end September through end November is best.

It is important to be careful because It’s hard to see nests. Especially hummingbird nests.

Sometimes trees need to be removed urgently if they are falling. Otherwise, wait if possible. Our trees hold many pollinators including birds, bats, bees, butterflies, moths, and other beneficial insects. If we can make a conscious effort to prevent as much destruction to them as possible, it increases our chances of survival too as we rely on their ecosystem services to pollinate our food and play their roll in the food chain in the ecosystems we depend upon.

Re-plant Trees where appropriate

Tree removal is going to be exponential as our National Parks will be logged, forest fuel load management continues, and defensible space mandates are enacted requiring homes to remove trees and vegetation. Keep old growth trees and plant more trees where appropriate. This improves climate resilience and provides habitat for our local and migrating birds.

What if my tree has a bird nest?

Fire Safe Marin Bird/Nest tips (click here)

If it is not falling, wait to remove it after the baby birds leave the nest. We have seen very sad stories here in El Granada, of baby birds/nests being thrown in dumpsters after tree cutting. Our wildlife are NOT trash! Tree removal is happening all year long. This is a problem for our wildlife.

  1. Plan your tree removal or trimming end September through end November

  2. Tell your tree removal service to be careful and to delay cutting if there is a nest.

On the importance of keeping old trees when possible: Adapting a famous quote by unknown: “The best time to plant a tree is 50 years ago. The second best time is now.” Why is this true? It takes at least 50 years for a tree to provide us significant benefits of climate cooling and carbon sequestration.

Bats on the Medians

Did you know we have bats in our Eucalyptus trees? Did you know bats are pollinators too? Bat populations worldwide are declining just as bird populations are… due to habitat destruction and other human impacts including pesticide poisoning. Bats pollinate and eat insects like mosquitoes that bite us. So, seriously consider the bats too! and try to remove your tree end September through end November, outside of their maternity season.

What if Monarchs are in my trees?

DO NOT REMOVE OR TRIM THE TREE if you see clustering monarchs or any monarchs in your tree/nearby trees. Your area is likely a Monarch Overwintering site. If you need to trim the trees, do so outside of overwintering season. Best time to trim is the last week of September. Monarchs start to arrive in October. As climate changes they will likely be migrating to new locations in San Mateo County and surrounding Counties. Overwintering migration to our location starts October and goes through February-March.