Damaged Great White Oak taken down at Autumn Glen HOA in Stephens City, VA

Managing trees in common areas is the responsibility of a Home Owners Association (HOA). Well-cared-for trees are valuable and important assets to every community but come with the need for responsible stewardship. Trees that lean should be inspected by an arborist on a regular basis. Dead trees should be brought down to a safe height or removed entirely if they pose a risk to people or to nearby structures.

A combination of rainstorms, high winds, and carpenter ants caused irreparable damage to a great White Oak at Autumn Glen HOA in Stephens City. The ants are attracted to older trees that have plenty of decayed or dead wood. The wood is brittle and soft, which makes it easier for ants to chew tunnels and infiltrate the entire tree and place the oak in a weakened state. A recent storm knocked down a large limb and basically cut the tree in half.

A huge limb from great White Oak came down during a June rain and wind storm at Autumn Glen HOA in Stephens City. Courtesy Fadua Houser.

High up in the spider lift, Mike Pietsch methodically cuts down a White Oak which in a weakened state was posing a great risk to nearby houses. Courtesy Fadua Houser.

Art Sisk Tree and Landscaping Service of Winchester managed the removal of the White Oak. According to Sisk, the Oak was 75 feet tall, had a tree trunk diameter of 31 inches, and was 65 to 70 years old. Mike Pietsch, a resident of Stephens City and an employee with the landscaping service for seven years, guided an Access CMC 83 Heavy Duty Arbor Pro spider lift to reach the highest limbs and topping off the tree in three-foot segments. “The ruggedized Arbor Pro combines superior engineering with advanced remote-control technology, intended for severe duty. It is also one of the safest lifts as it comes equipped standard with more redundant safety devices to provide a very reliable work environment,” Sisk said.

Pietsch prefers working with a 661 C-M Magnum Stihl chainsaw. “This chainsaw is best for felling large trees, in large quantities and has the power to get big jobs done,” Pietsch said. Pietsch and crew member James Bryant utilized a Bandit Intimidator hand-fed Chipper for shredding tree branches. It is a drum-style chipper featuring a 24-inch diameter drum with a large throat opening. The two crew members easily pushed large brush stacks and limbs through powerful dual feed wheels mounted in Bandit’s Slide Box Feed System. The White Oak was taken down to the stump and the property was cleared of tree branches and large brush stacks in two hours. It was only 10 am and Art Sisk’s crew was off to take down a homeowners Bradford Pear just down the street.