Is this you?
- ▸A noticeable lean toward your house, garage, or driveway (especially a new lean after a storm)
- ▸Dead limbs over 2" thick still hanging in the canopy
- ▸Vertical cracks or splits in the main trunk
- ▸Mushrooms, conks, or shelf fungus at the root flare or on the trunk
- ▸Soil mounding or cracking on one side of the base — a sign roots are lifting
- ▸Hollow or dull sound when you tap the trunk with the back of a hatchet
- ▸Bark falling off in sheets exposing dry, dusty wood underneath
- ▸Sap, sawdust, or boring holes from carpenter ants or pine beetles
A dangerous tree is not always a dead tree. Some of the worst failures we see in Spokane come from trees that looked healthy from the street — full green canopy, no obvious decay — but had internal trunk rot, girdled roots, or a split crotch that finally gave up during a 50 mph gust off the Palouse.
The simplest mental model: a tree is a lever. The taller and heavier the canopy, the more torque a windstorm puts on the trunk and root plate. If anything has compromised that lever — decay, deadwood, root damage from a recent excavation, a previous lightning strike — the math eventually catches up. Our job is to spot the math before gravity does.
When we walk a property in Spokane Valley or the South Hill, we evaluate four zones: roots (the anchor), root flare (the base), trunk (the lever), and canopy (the sail). A failure in any zone is enough to bring a tree down — and the higher the failure point, the more property damage. A root plate failure rolls the entire tree onto whatever's downwind. A trunk crack at 30 feet drops the top half onto your roof.
The Inland Northwest has three accelerators that make our trees more dangerous than the same species in milder climates: dry summers that stress shallow-rooted conifers, freeze-thaw cycles that exploit any existing crack, and the channelized wind events that funnel down the Spokane River corridor and across Liberty Lake. Add a wet snow load in early November and you have the perfect failure recipe.
If you can check three or more boxes on the symptoms list above, do not wait for the next storm. The cost difference between a planned removal and an emergency removal after the tree is on your roof is usually $3,000–$8,000 — plus a homeowners deductible, plus tarping, plus the inconvenience of insurance adjusters in your living room.
Spokane / North Idaho Context
Spokane's two highest-failure species are Ponderosa pine (shallow root system, brittle wood when stressed) and mature cottonwood (rapid decay, weak branch unions). If you have either over a structure, your risk profile is automatically elevated. Storm-damaged trees from the November 2015 windstorm and the January 2021 ice event are still failing across Spokane Valley and North Idaho today — root damage takes years to show.
What to do right now
- 1Walk the dripline of every large tree once a month — look for new cracks in the soil and lifted root plates.
- 2Photograph any lean from the same spot each month. A 2-degree change between photos is a serious warning.
- 3If you see mushrooms, do not pull them — note them, photograph them, and call for assessment.
- 4Keep ladders, vehicles, and play equipment out from under any tree showing two or more symptoms.
- 5Call (509) 204-4333 for a free on-site risk assessment — we'll tell you straight whether it stays or comes down.
What it costs: Risk assessments are free. Removal of a dangerous tree typically runs $800–$5,000+ depending on lean, access, and proximity to structures.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will my tree survive another Spokane winter?
If it has any of the major risk symptoms — significant lean, root plate movement, large deadwood, vertical trunk cracks — the honest answer is maybe not. The November 2015 and January 2021 storms in Spokane took down trees that had been quietly failing for years. A free on-site assessment is the only way to know.
How do arborists actually decide if a tree has to come down?
We grade three things: probability of failure (how likely is part of this tree to come down in the next 1–3 years?), size of the failing part, and target (what's underneath it). A small deadwood drop in an empty pasture is low risk. A trunk crack on a 90-foot pine over your bedroom is the call we make every week.
Can a dangerous tree be saved with cabling or pruning?
Sometimes. Crown reduction, deadwood removal, and dynamic cabling can extend the safe lifespan of a structurally sound but high-risk tree. Cabling will not save a tree with serious trunk decay or root failure — those are removal-only.
Need an Expert Eye on That Tree?
Free on-site assessment by an experienced Spokane Valley crew. No pressure, just answers.