Tree Work in Fort Collins: The City Keeps the List
Fort Collins does something for tree work that almost no city does. It is unlawful for a business to prune, remove, cut, spray or fell a tree for money inside city limits without an arborist license issued by the City Forester, and that rule reaches any work ten feet or more above the ground.
The city then publishes who holds one. That table lists fifty plus companies with phone numbers and a column showing which are certified to treat emerald ash borer, so here you can check a bid against the city's own list before you sign.
The City Forester Decides Who Can Touch Your Tree
Colorado licenses electricians and plumbers at state level. It runs no state trade license for tree work, which is why the phrase licensed tree service means nothing across most of this state. Fort Collins closed that gap itself, and the City Forester license covers work at ten feet or more above ground and felling for financial gain, which describes every job worth hiring out.
Use that today. Call the Forestry Division at 970-221-6660, ask where the current licensed list lives, then read the name on your quote against it letter for letter and check the ash borer column while you are there. A company missing from that list that still wants to work in city limits has answered your question for you.
There is a second permit almost nobody knows about, and it is free. The City Forester issues it for work on any tree in the public right-of-way, which includes the parkway strip between your sidewalk and the curb. Planting, treating, pruning and removal all need it. On commercial property the same office permits removal of any tree fifteen inches DBH or larger.
Go outside and look at which side of the sidewalk your tree is on
A tree in that strip is public right-of-way and the free permit has to exist before anyone starts. DBH means diameter at breast height, measured four and a half feet up the trunk, and fifteen inches of diameter is a hair over forty seven inches around, so a tape measure settles it. A crew that says a parkway tree needs no permit is one to decline.
Ash is what makes this a busy trade here. The Forestry Division maintains more than sixty one thousand trees along city streets and in parks and cemeteries, and ash is a very large share of the street tree population. Emerald ash borer has been confirmed on the north end of Fort Collins, just outside city limits.
That turns a routine question into an expensive one. An ash here sits on a treat or remove decision, not a trim decision, and the two paths cost very different money over ten years. Go look at yours: thinning that starts at the top and works down, D shaped exit holes about an eighth of an inch across, sprouts low on the trunk, pale flecking where woodpeckers stripped bark. That is not a diagnosis. It is a reason to call a name from the city's certified column instead of whoever knocked on the door.
The other half of the workload is wind, and Fort Collins wind is not ordinary. Downslope windstorms come off the foothills that rise right at the western edge of town. Christman Field on the city's northwest edge has recorded a 72.2 mph gust, foothill stations nearby have hit 86 to 100 mph, and high wind warnings routinely call 80 to 100 mph. Those storms take down power lines and semis, so a brittle ash limb over a driveway is not hypothetical.
Snow adds a second load and it arrives in lumps. The city averages 51.4 inches a year but only around fourteen days deliver an inch or more, so the weight lands in a few events. A limb that carried fine all last winter can fail in one night.
Access is the pricing variable people never expect. Old Town, Old Town West and the Laurel School Historic District were built from the 1870s into the 1930s on alley loaded lots, and the Laurel district alone covers 217 acres and 549 contributing buildings under mature canopy. A removal that is a straightforward drop in a 1990s subdivision, and the citywide median year built is 1993, becomes a rope and rig or crane job there. Make the estimator say out loud how the wood leaves your yard before you compare prices.
How to Hire a Tree Crew in Fort Collins
Work out whose ground the tree is on
Sidewalk, then curb. Anything in the strip between them is public right-of-way and needs the free City Forester permit. Anything behind your sidewalk is yours.
Get the city list before you get quotes
Forestry Division, 970-221-6660. Licensed companies are published with phone numbers and an ash borer column. Reading it first changes who you invite to bid.
Ask who is pulling the permit, by name
The right-of-way permit is free, so there is no cost excuse. A crew that shrugs at it on a parkway tree has told you how the job will go.
Ask the insurer for the certificate, not the contractor
Have it emailed from the insurance company with your address on it. Tree work drops heavy things near roofs and power lines, and a photocopy proves nothing about today.
Check your address is actually in the city
Bellvue and Laporte sit in unincorporated Larimer County, where the county building division runs permitting and its own contractor licensing. The City Forester list is not the check out there, so ask what the crew carries.
Tree Service Costs in Fort Collins CO
Typical Fort Collins ranges, here so you can sanity check a quote instead of replacing one. Old Town and Laurel School district jobs sit at the top because the wood leaves through an alley, and an emergency call after a windstorm prices differently from the same limb booked on a Tuesday.
Common Questions About Tree Service in Fort Collins CO
Is there such a thing as a licensed tree service in Colorado?
Not at state level. Colorado licenses electricians and plumbers as state trades and does not license arborists, so in most of this state the words licensed tree service are decoration.
Fort Collins is the exception. The City Forester issues its own arborist license and publishes who holds it. Ask for two things: that city license, and an ISA Certified Arborist on the crew, which is an industry certification held by a person and not a company. Do not assume Loveland, Windsor or Greeley run the same rule. Ask that town's own office.
Do I need a permit to take down a tree in my own yard?
The city permits target two situations. Work on any tree in the public right-of-way, including the parkway strip between your sidewalk and the curb, needs a free City Forester permit. On commercial property, removing a tree fifteen inches DBH or larger needs one too.
Measure DBH four and a half feet up the trunk. If you cannot tell whether the tree stands in the strip or on your side of the sidewalk, call Forestry at 970-221-6660 before the crew arrives, not after the trunk is down.
My ash is thin at the top. Is that the borer?
It might be. Ash is a very large share of the street trees here and emerald ash borer has been confirmed on the north end of Fort Collins just outside city limits, so it is the first thing to rule out.
Look for thinning that starts high and moves down, D shaped exit holes roughly an eighth of an inch across, sprouts breaking out low on the trunk and pale patches where woodpeckers flaked the bark. Then get a company from the city's ash borer certified column to look, because treat or remove is a ten year money decision.
How much should I water a newly planted tree right now?
Check with the city before you commit to a schedule. Fort Collins Utilities declared a voluntary Water Shortage Watch effective May 1 after a poor snowpack winter, and yard care sites are publishing mandatory Fort Collins watering days we could not confirm with the city itself.
Your rules also follow whoever bills you. Fort Collins Utilities serves part of the city while East Larimer County, Fort Collins-Loveland and West Fort Collins Water Districts serve other parts, and a special district cannot impose mandatory restrictions the way the city utility can. Read your bill, then read fcgov.
Do you do the tree work yourselves?
No. Contractor Palace matches you with Fort Collins tree companies and the crew you book does the work. There is no charge to you, so ask every company you meet for the city license and the insurance certificate.
Two Calls Worth Making First
Forestry at 970-221-6660 for the licensed company list and the free right-of-way permit. The contractor's insurance carrier for a certificate sent straight to you. Fifteen minutes, and they settle the expensive questions.
Ash and wind keep Fort Collins crews busy, and both reward the homeowner who called first.
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