Tree Removal in North Tonawanda, NY

Tree Removal in North Tonawanda carries a bit of irony. The city calls itself the Lumber City: from the mid-1800s through the 1970s it was a major lumber shipping and forwarding center, with more than 150 lumber companies, and at the height of the Erie Canal it was once the largest port on the Great Lakes. The Ray H. Bennett Lumber Company sold kit homes across the United States and Canada for about 70 years. The trees in North Tonawanda yards today grew up around the houses that wealth built.

Old neighborhoods, old trees

Lumber barons built mansions along Goundry Street, and working neighborhoods filled in around them. The city was a village by 1865 and a city by 1897, so much of its housing is old and its lots narrow. Large maples and other shade trees from the early 1900s now stand over roofs, garages and wires. On lots that tight, removal is done in sections with rigging, and sometimes with a crane when a decayed tree cannot be climbed safely.

Water on three sides

The Erie Canal and Tonawanda Creek form the southern border and most of the eastern edge, and the Niagara River forms the west, with Tonawanda Island separated from the mainland by the Little River. The 53-acre Gratwick-Riverside Park runs along the river. Yards near the water tend to hold big willows, silver maples and cottonwoods in damp soil. Those grow fast and fail in wind, so we check root plates and lean carefully on riverfront and canal-side lots.

Snow and wind history

North Tonawanda sits north of the worst lake-effect bands, but it is not immune. The National Weather Service recorded 6 to 12 inches here in the October 2006 storm, enough to break limbs on trees that still held their leaves. Niagara County windstorms, such as the March 8, 2017 storm that left about 20,000 county residents without power and brought down numerous large trees, are the bigger threat.

Who lives here

The city had 30,496 residents in 2020. Census QuickFacts shows a 70.1% owner-occupied rate, a median owner-occupied value of $197,200 and 21.9% of residents aged 65 or older. If you would rather handle one tree at a time, our estimates are itemized by tree so you can do the most urgent one now and plan the rest.

Before the work

North Tonawanda is in Niagara County, not Erie, and city rules govern trees on the public strip by the street. If the tree in question is out by the curb, check with the city before anything is cut. For trees on your own lot, the service wire to the house has to be disconnected or covered by the utility first, which takes a call a few days ahead. Get a free estimate