Ash trees, the quarantine, and hiring tree work in Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls has spent several years losing its ash trees, and if you own a house here with a mature tree in the yard or on the boulevard strip, this is the one piece of local knowledge that will cost you money if you skip it.

Below is what the quarantine actually says, how to think about treating a tree versus removing it, and what to ask a tree company. Businesses named come from our listings of public records. We have not hired them and we hold no reviews or ratings.

The quarantine is real, and Sioux Falls is inside it

Emerald ash borer was first confirmed in South Dakota in the Sioux Falls area in 2018. The state Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources maintains an internal quarantine that now covers all of Brookings, Codington, Grant, Minnehaha, Lincoln, Turner and Union counties. Sioux Falls sits in Minnehaha and Lincoln, so every address in the city is inside the quarantine boundary.

What the quarantine regulates is the movement of wood. Regulated articles include ash nursery stock, ash logs, ash lumber, ash chips and mulch, and hardwood firewood of any species. Those can move freely inside the quarantine area. Moving them out requires a permit or compliance agreement from the state, and an inspection to obtain one. There are civil and criminal penalties attached.

The federal quarantine no longer exists, having been lifted in January 2021. The state one does, and it is the one that applies to you.

What that means practically

If you have an ash removed, ask the contractor where the wood goes. A company working in this market should answer immediately and without ambiguity.

Do not take firewood to a lake cabin or a campsite outside the quarantine counties. The state's own guidance goes further than the rule and asks that firewood not be moved at all, and to buy it as close to where you will burn it as possible. Firewood is how this beetle covers distance it could never fly, and it carries other pests besides.

Treat or remove is a real decision, not a formality

An untreated ash in an infested area will die. That is the blunt version, and it is why the city has been removing ash from parks and the boulevard strip over a period of years rather than waiting.

Treatment works, but it is a commitment rather than a cure. It is repeated on a cycle for as long as you want the tree, so the arithmetic is the treatment cost every few years against the one-time removal cost plus whatever a replacement tree is worth to you. A large, healthy, well-placed shade tree is genuinely worth treating. A declining ash that was never in a good spot is worth taking down while you can still choose the timing.

The condition of the tree drives the decision. A tree already showing significant canopy dieback is generally past the point where treatment is a sensible purchase, and getting that assessed honestly is what you are hiring an arborist for.

Andy's Tree Service

Listed at 1104 S Powder House Rd. For any ash assessment, ask what percentage of canopy loss they are seeing and what that implies for treatment being worthwhile.

Arbor Care Tree Shrub & Lawn

Listed at 27134 Grummand Ave. Ask whether treatment is priced per application and how often it needs repeating.

Sioux Empire Tree Service

Listed at 6501 W 53rd St. Ask whether the assessment is free and whether it is done by someone certified.

Know which tree is actually yours

The strip between the sidewalk and the street is public right-of-way, and the rules for what happens there differ from your own yard. The city has been handling ash removal on that strip and in parks as part of its programme.

Trees on private property are the owner's responsibility, including removal of dead and diseased ones. Before you commission any work, confirm which category your tree falls into by asking the city directly, because paying to remove a tree that was not yours to remove is an avoidable and irritating expense. It is a phone call.

Insurance is the thing to verify, and it is not optional

Tree work is the trade where verifying coverage matters most, and it is worth being unembarrassed about it. A climber with a saw operating above your roof, your neighbour's garage, and a power line represents the largest liability exposure of any residential contractor you will hire.

Ask for both general liability and workers compensation, and ask that the certificate come directly from the insurance agent rather than as a copy from the contractor. An uninsured climber injured in your tree can become your problem in a way most homeowners never see coming.

Bunkers Tree Service

Listed at 801 S Hillview Rd. Request the certificate of insurance from the agent directly before any work is scheduled.

Peterson's Tree Services

Listed at 400 S Ellis Rd. Ask whether the crew climbing is employed by the company or subcontracted, and who carries the coverage.

Atlas Tree Service Sioux Falls SD

Listed at 909 S 9th Ave. Ask whether they hold a certified arborist credential and who on the crew holds it.

Get the scope in writing, because tree bids hide things

The single most common dispute in tree work is what happens to the debris and the stump. A removal quote might mean the tree is on the ground, or it might mean the yard is clean and the stump is gone. Those are different numbers.

Ask specifically: is the stump ground, and to what depth. Is the grinding spoil hauled away or left in a pile. Are the chips taken or dumped on site. Who repairs ruts if equipment marks the lawn. Is the wood cut to firewood length or removed entirely.

On pruning rather than removal, ask what standard they work to. Established industry pruning standards exist, and a company that works to them will say so. Be wary of anyone who offers to top a tree, meaning cutting the main leaders back to stubs. It damages the tree permanently and is not accepted practice.

Storm damage is a different sequence

Wind here removes weak limbs on its own schedule, and after a serious storm the same dynamic appears as with roofing: crews arrive quickly, some of them from a long way away.

If a limb is on your house or in a power line, that is an emergency call and utility contact respectively rather than a shopping exercise. For everything else, the storm does not remove your ability to ask for the insurance certificate and a written scope. A company that will not produce them under time pressure is telling you what they would be like to deal with afterward.

Patriot Tree Service

Listed at 926 N Walts Ave. After storm damage, ask how long the company has operated from its current Sioux Falls address.

Friest Tree Experts

Listed at 47732 273rd St. Ask what the emergency call-out rate is and confirm it before the crew is dispatched.

Planting back

If you take an ash out, the replacement question is worth thinking about for longer than the removal was. The reason a beetle could take out this much of the city's canopy in a few years is that a lot of streets were planted with one species.

Ask what will actually thrive here rather than what is on the truck. Wind, alkaline soil, road salt near the street, and a hard freeze cycle all narrow the list. Ask about mature size relative to the power line above the spot, and about how far from the foundation and the sewer lateral it should sit.

Dakota Tree Nursery & Excavating

Listed at 25524 472nd Ave. Ask what species are suited to this soil and climate rather than choosing from a catalogue.

Gleason's Instant Tree Co Inc

Listed at 27226 471st Ave. For larger transplanted stock, ask what the establishment watering schedule is and how long the tree is guaranteed.

The short version

Sioux Falls is inside the state ash quarantine, so wood does not leave the county without a permit. Decide treat or remove based on an honest canopy assessment. Confirm whether the tree is yours or the city's before you pay anybody. Verify insurance through the agent. Get stump, debris and cleanup written into the bid.

Our listings hold public business facts for the Sioux Falls area: name, address, phone and category, and nothing more. The verification is still yours to do.