Tree Removal in Santa Rosa, CA

Tree removal in Santa Rosa is shaped by a climate of extremes. The city gets about 32 inches of rain a year, nearly all of it between fall and spring, then goes months without a drop while summer afternoons pass 90 degrees around 29 times a year. Trees that soak up a wet winter carry heavy, leafy canopies into a dry summer, and roots that sat in saturated soil in January are stressed by August. Add two major wildfires since 2017 and a tree disease spread by bay laurels, and you have the reasons most calls come in: a tree that died, a tree that broke, or a tree that is now too close to something that matters.

Fire-damaged trees in the hills and the rebuilt neighborhoods

The Tubbs Fire started October 8, 2017, burned about 45,000 acres and destroyed roughly 5 percent of Santa Rosa's homes, including most of Coffey Park, Larkfield-Wikiup and Fountaingrove. In 2020 the Glass Fire reached Skyhawk on September 29. Trees that survived the flames did not all survive what came after. In the Fountaingrove II open space alone, a consulting arborist's report counted 1,121 dead trees removed in 2018, mostly Douglas fir, bay laurel and native oaks, with madrone and redwood among them, and noted pests, disease and drought adding to fire injury. A scorched trunk can leaf out for a few seasons while decay works inside it, which is why fire-scarred trees near homes deserve a careful look rather than a guess.

Sudden oak death

Sudden oak death, caused by the pathogen Phytophthora ramorum, is spread mostly by rain splash and wind-blown droplets from infected California bay laurel leaves. The bay is not harmed, but nearby coast live oak, black oak, canyon live oak and tanoak can be. A 2017 survey area that included Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Sonoma and Petaluma saw infection jump from 3.8 percent in 2015 to 37 percent after two wet winters, and the pathogen turned up in Santa Rosa residential areas. The state's homeowner guide notes that infection opens the wood to decay fungi, which raises the chance of trunk or limb failure, and that wood from infected trees should be used on site or tarped and taken to a landfill rather than moved around. An infected oak is not automatically a removal; one that is dead or failing over a house usually is.

Storms, saturated ground and creekside trees

Winter storms here bring rain more than ice, but soaked ground plus wind is enough to tip trees out by the roots. During the late-December 2022 and January 2023 storms, more than 100 downed trees were reported across nearby Sonoma Valley, most of them along creeks where soil had washed away. Santa Rosa has its own network of creeks: Santa Rosa Creek and its tributaries Brush, Matanzas and Piner creeks run through neighborhoods, and bay laurel, willow, bigleaf maple and coast live oak crowd their banks. A tree with a lean toward the house and a creek bank undercutting its roots is one to look at before the next atmospheric river, not after.

City rules, heritage trees and PG&E lines

Santa Rosa regulates trees under City Code Chapter 17-24, which has separate articles on prohibitions, permits and street trees, and the city charter singles out heritage trees as ones that should not be removed unnecessarily. In 2026, a downtown heritage redwood's approved removal was headed for appeal to the Planning Commission, a reminder that big native trees get attention here. Outside city limits, Sonoma County has its own heritage tree chapter and valley oak habitat rules. If a tree may need a permit or may be a city street tree, we say so before quoting so you can confirm with the city. For overhead lines, PG&E handles trees near its distribution and transmission wires, but owners are responsible for keeping the service drop to the house clear, and anyone who is not line-clearance qualified must keep body and tools at least 10 feet from power lines.

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What a removal estimate covers

• Species and condition: dead wood, cavities, cankers, lean, root plate, fire scars
• Targets: roof, deck, pool, fences, cars, neighbor's yard
• Wires: PG&E lines versus your own service drop
• Access and slope: gates, driveway width, retaining walls, hillside footing
• Whether ropes, a lift or a crane is the safest way down
• Permit or street-tree questions to settle with the city first
• What happens to logs, chips, brush and the stump, all priced in writing

Santa Rosa is the middle of our service area, from the flat streets of Roseland, Coffey Park and the West End to the hills of Fountaingrove, Skyhawk, Rincon Valley and Bennett Valley. From there we work across central Sonoma County: Windsor and Larkfield-Wikiup to the north, Rohnert Park, Cotati and Penngrove to the south, Sebastopol and Forestville to the west, and Kenwood and Glen Ellen up the Valley of the Moon. The flatter towns on the Santa Rosa Plain mostly bring big valley oaks, aging street trees and storm cleanup. The hills and the west county bring redwood, Douglas fir and bay laurel, steep lots and the fire-safety work that goes with wildland edges. Rules change at each city line and again in unincorporated county areas, and each town page covers what applies there.