Tree Service in West St. Paul, MN

A lot of the Tree Service in West St. Paul we are asked for right now is really one decision: treat this ash or take it down? The city's own public tree inventory found that roughly 40% of its boulevard trees were ash, a heavy bet on one species that emerald ash borer has made expensive. EAB was first confirmed here in spring 2016, when three infested trees turned up in the northern part of the city. Since then the beetle has had nearly a decade to work through the yards between Robert Street and the river.

How the city handles its own ash

West St. Paul manages more than 1,200 ash trees along boulevards and in parks. It has treated them since 2016, which has kept many large ash alive, and it removes trees selectively when it has to. A 2025 Metropolitan Council grant paid for removing 75 ash and hazard trees, with 250 new trees going in along boulevards and in parks by June 2027. The city plans to replant with a variety of species so the next pest does not wipe out whole blocks at once. That is useful context for your own yard, because a boulevard ash in front of your house may be treated and healthy while the one in your backyard is untreated and failing.

When treatment makes sense

The city's guidance for private owners is practical. Good candidates are large, healthy, well-placed ash over 10 inches in diameter that are not competing with other trees or with the house, the driveway or overhead lines. Trunk injections have to be repeated every two to three years for as long as you want to keep the tree. If your ash fits that description and you value its shade, treatment can be the right call. If it is crowding the foundation, under the service line, or has already lost a third of its crown, we will tell you removal is the better use of your money.

A small city with tight access

West St. Paul covers only about five square miles, and most of it is built out with mid-century homes on modest lots. Removals here are rarely a matter of dropping a tree across an open lawn. More often we are lowering limbs on ropes between a garage and a neighbor's fence, or working from a lift over a backyard with no gate wide enough for a machine. We size the crew and equipment to the lot, and we tell you up front if the job needs a crane.

Storm exposure

The city sits on high ground on the west bank of the Mississippi, at roughly 1,027 feet. When the June 2013 storms knocked down trees across the metro, a widely shared MPR News photo of the damage was taken in West St. Paul. Dead ash in particular does not hold up in wind, and the risk from an untreated ash goes up each year it stands.

What we can do

• Look at your ash and tell you honestly whether treatment or removal fits
• Remove dead or declining ash in sections on tight lots
• Grind stumps and leave the grindings or haul them
• Prune maples, lindens and oaks for clearance and structure
• Clean up after storms

Call (651) 374-8562 or request an estimate online. Get a free estimate