It’s a dilemma but no one can force you to cut it down. Cottonwoods do that and it’s been there for decades and everyone survived. A lot of your OTHER neighbors may actually like it. If the whiners don’t want to chip in, they have no right to complain anymore, since you offered up a solution.
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Ethical question about a tree in my yard.
- Thread starter hbarcat
- Start date
YES, If YOU decided, of your own accord, (even at their request) to have the tree removed, then, - yes - it's your "legal" responsibility to pay for it.
(says captain obvious) But, as you discovered, it would be a rare circumstance where you would have a legal obligation to remove the tree.
My impression is - given the audacity of the request - that it's a thinly veiled threat that clueless people (that want to sound important) will use;
"we'll call our attorney"...
It's about as silly as the age old complaint that all my leaves blow off our trees and into the neighbor's yard in the fall.
PS: I bet those same people would leave their dog crap in your yard....
Thankfully I never have to worry about this due to the foxes that live on my property.
I don’t have a solution for when they poop yet, but there is supposedly a bear in the area.
Financial priorities need to be considered. The medical bills that you are struggling to pay down should be your first priority, beyond the obvious things such as food and shelter. If the tree is not posing a danger and is healthy, removing it should be way down the list- in my opinion.
Your offer to them to help with the removal cost is fair and reasonable. Having rejected your offer, you owe them nothing more ethically or legally. You have handled the situation very well.
Is anyone else thinking this is the very definition of a true TB 'Get off My Lawn' thread? 
I thought of the line in "Strawberry Fields:"
No one I think is in my tree
I mean, it must be high or low...
Well for starters, in 1942 it was quite small.
On an age related note, Charles Manson was once a small baby, so, time changes all.
Here you go.
This is the view of the back of my two story house from the next block over. It should give you all a better idea of just how big this tree is and also how tightly it's squeezed in among other structures and power lines.
Clearly, the tree would demolish my house if it fell on it. It would also crush either of the two apartment buildings visible on the right side of the picture. The garage and shed in the foreground are also within the hazard zone.
While not visible in this picture, there are two more houses just off frame to the left that would be within the radius of the tree if it fell in that direction.
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Seeing that, and based on our own experience with high-risk tree work, I can well understand the prices of the quotes you've received.
That said, seeing a highly trained, well equipped crew take down trees that safely, even when right next to or over structures, is an amazing thing. The techniques true professionals use are novel and quite enjoyable to learn about. All the better not to cheap out on "the fella from the internet" who rocks up with a buddy and a chainsaw, and figures they can "probably get it to fall over that way."
I maintain that you still owe nothing to your d'bag neighbors, but... if/when it ever is time for it to come down, consider the price of good, professional help a worthwhile investment in not having to spend even more money on fixing people's houses or vehicles.
Even if your neighbors change their minds and try to counter-offer with a "We know a guy..." it's still your property. You have every right to choose who works there, and the final say in that decision.
If the neighbors don't like that, they have chosen to continue to enjoy the visits from their fluffy white friends.
It’s like cutting your entire body offSounds kind of like cutting off my head to spite my face.
Perhaps I should mention that I worked for a couple of summers for a tree removal company in my early 20s, so I know exactly what's required to take down a tree like this.
And I can say, with 100% certainty, that this is one seriously difficult and extremely dangerous job, even for experienced professionals with all of the big, expensive equipment at their disposal. A tree like this can't just be cut down, it needs to be dismantled from top to bottom and lowered to the ground, piece by piece.
These's absolutely no way that I'd trust anyone less than the most reputable company with an established reputation for tackling the biggest jobs and a plethora of stellar reviews.
OSHA says that tree removal is the most dangerous job in the United Staes with a fatality rate more than 30 times the average of all occupations.
Back when I was doing it, I decided to leave the profession, despite the lucrative pay, because I was married with a new newborn and was genuinely fearful of being maimed of killed.
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Fine and good, on all counts.
My neighbors were far less informed (alarmingly so), and we've seen some people do some truly ludicrous stuff in the name of "saving money,", so I wanted to cover the bases thoroughly in general, for the benefit of anyone who happens across the topic.
No presumption of ignorance on your part was intended or implied.
Considering how fast cottonwoods grow, it would not have been long before it became a psychotic killer. It's been near its current size for many decades and its a native species. There most likely were lots of these in the vicinity at one time, before they died or were removed for their sociopathic behavior.
And fully insured and bonded. This is one instance where I would want to see proof of coverage.
You don't have funds that's were it stops.
Keep the tree but see if there’s a way to mitigate the 1 month a year cotton problem. Offer to help neighbors clean up? Some sort of barrier?
Seems ludicrous to remove an otherwise healthy tree from your own property at your own expense to keep busybodies happy.
Maybe incentize the neighborhood kids to gather cotton for yarn spinning etc.? That’s an out there idea, but hey.
Funny story - when my daughter was 5 or so, we had a huge pine tree in our back yard that dropped pine cones all over the place. One weekend, I said to my her, I’ll give you a nickel for every pinecone you pick up and put in the pail. I expected her to last five minutes. She stuck at it for an hour and I owed her $30!
When we bought our lake house a couple of years later, surrounded by 100s of pines, she tried to make a similar deal with me again! My price per unit dropped quite a bit.
Seems ludicrous to remove an otherwise healthy tree from your own property at your own expense to keep busybodies happy.
Maybe incentize the neighborhood kids to gather cotton for yarn spinning etc.? That’s an out there idea, but hey.
Funny story - when my daughter was 5 or so, we had a huge pine tree in our back yard that dropped pine cones all over the place. One weekend, I said to my her, I’ll give you a nickel for every pinecone you pick up and put in the pail. I expected her to last five minutes. She stuck at it for an hour and I owed her $30!
When we bought our lake house a couple of years later, surrounded by 100s of pines, she tried to make a similar deal with me again! My price per unit dropped quite a bit.
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About 25 years ago, my neighbor was insistent on taking down a 50 ft maple tree in his front yard by himself in order to save money, despite my best efforts to talk him out of it.
Because I had previous experience working for a professional tree removal company, I reluctantly agreed to supervise and offer my advice, although I refused to physically participate.
Unfortunately, he ignored some of my instructions and decided to go cheap on the safety rope. Instead of buying the rope I told him to buy, he got the cheapest stuff he could find at WalMart (I was unaware of this).
It was to be used as a control to keep the tree from falling on the neighbor's house, but it was so flimsy that it broke when the tree started to fall the wrong way. Of course the top of the tree landed on the roof of the neighbor's porch, causing some damage. It could have been worse. Much worse.
I would not cut the tree down. I can't cut down heathy tree for those reasons. I have a tree in my backyard that looks like it's leaning towards my neighbors yard. Going to have someone take a look at it. I think your neighbors are selfish. I would keep the tree knowing the cool story behind it.
Do nothing about the tree. It is beautiful. Your neighbors are not.
