Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Tree Removal and Tree Service in Oklahoma City
A large share of Oklahoma City's mature trees were damaged in the October 2020 ice storm, and many have not been properly repaired. Private trees are generally not regulated by the city, so getting them inspected and fixed is up to each owner.
- County
- Oklahoma (parts in Cleveland, Canadian and Pottawatomie)
- Tree rules
- City approval needed for trees on public property and right-of-way
- Key local rule
- No general permit for removing trees on private residential lots
- Electric utility
- OG&E
- Main hazards
- Ice storms, tornadoes, straight-line wind, drought
The October 2020 ice storm, six years on
The storm arrived in the last week of October 2020, weeks before the leaves would have dropped. Ice built up on full crowns, and trees across the metro area came apart. OG&E described it as one of the worst events in its history, with hundreds of thousands of customers out, some for more than a week.
Emergency cleanup then was about clearing streets and restoring power. Broken limbs were cut wherever a saw could reach, often leaving long stubs and torn bark.
Those wounds have had six years to decay, and the sprouts that grew from them are now large enough to be heavy but are only weakly attached. Elms, pecans, maples and oaks all over the city carry this kind of damage, and it is the background to much of today's limb failure.
Old ice damage to look for in your trees
Stubs
Broken limbs never recut to a branch union. They die back and carry decay toward the trunk.
Clusters of upright sprouts
Fast shoots from a break point. Attached only to outer wood, they peel off as they gain weight.
Long strips of missing bark
Where a limb tore away. Look for soft or discolored wood.
A lopsided crown
Losing one side shifts the load onto the limbs that remain.
Cracks at forks
Unions that opened under ice and partly closed again.
Repair the tree or remove it?
Corrective pruning is worth it when
- The trunk is sound and the main scaffold limbs are intact
- Damage is confined to branch ends and secondary limbs
- Sprouts can be thinned and trained into new structure
- The tree is a durable species such as an oak or pecan
Removal makes more sense when
- Large wounds on the trunk show decay
- More than half the original crown was lost
- It is a Bradford pear, Siberian elm or silver maple near a structure
- A main fork is cracked
Restoration takes two or three pruning visits spread over several years. For a good tree it costs less than removal and replacement.
Trees of the OKC metro
- Siberian elm
- Common on older lots and brittle. Often the first tree an arborist suggests replacing.
- American elm
- Fine survivors remain in Heritage Hills, Mesta Park and Crown Heights. Worth protecting.
- Pecan
- Large native trees along creeks and in older yards. Heavy limbs.
- Post oak and blackjack oak
- Cross Timbers natives on the east side and in Edmond. Sturdy, but they die when roots are disturbed.
- Bradford pear
- Splits in ice and wind. Short-lived.
- Eastern redcedar
- Tough windbreak tree. A fire hazard near homes on acreage.
Spring: tornadoes and straight-line wind
Tornado season peaks in April and May. Moore and south Oklahoma City have been hit by violent tornadoes more than once, notably on May 3, 1999 and May 20, 2013.
For most properties in most years, the damaging wind is the 60 to 80 mile per hour gust front of a severe thunderstorm. On the open plains there is little to slow it. Trees with full, dense crowns and those weakened by old ice damage lose limbs first.
After any severe storm, walk the yard and look up. Hanging limbs and fresh cracks are the urgent items. The rest can be scheduled.
What Oklahoma City regulates
Oklahoma City does not generally require a permit to remove or prune a tree on a private residential lot. Trees on public property, including street right-of-way and parks, are the city's, and work on them requires city approval.
Historic preservation districts and HOAs may have their own landscape rules. Nichols Hills, The Village, Edmond, Norman and Moore are separate cities.
With no permit screen, vetting the company falls to you. Oklahoma has no state tree service license, so ask for a certificate of liability insurance and workers' compensation coverage.
Services for Oklahoma City properties
- Storm damage tree removal in Oklahoma CityIce and wind cleanup, locally.
- Tree trimming and pruningCorrective pruning of ice-damaged crowns.
- Tree removalProcess, methods and cost factors.
- Stump grindingEspecially for elm and pear, which resprout.
- Oklahoma overviewIce thickness effects and drought diseases.
Oklahoma City tree questions
Do I need a permit to remove a tree in Oklahoma City?
Generally not for a tree on your own residential lot. Trees on public property or in the street right-of-way require city approval.
Will OG&E trim my trees?
OG&E prunes trees near its distribution lines on a cycle and after storms. It does not maintain trees around the service line to your house or remove debris from private property.
Is it too late to fix ice damage from 2020?
No. Stubs can still be recut correctly and sprout clusters thinned. The longer large wounds sit, though, the more decay develops, so earlier is better.
What trees hold up best to Oklahoma ice?
Compact, strong-wooded trees such as bur oak, Shumard oak, bald cypress and Kentucky coffeetree do better than elms, pears and maples. Structure matters as much as species.
Reach a tree service in Oklahoma City
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