About 45,000 ash trees still stand in Sioux Falls yards. Every one of them is on a clock.
Ash tree removal and emerald ash borer treatment, tree removal and trimming, boulevard trees, stump grinding, spruce and elm care, crane work, replacement planting and 24/7 storm response across Sioux Falls and the towns around it, by City-licensed, insured crews who know when ash can be cut and where the wood is allowed to go.
City of Sioux Falls licensed arborist crews · General liability and workers' comp · Free estimates · Written price good for 30 days
The Sioux Falls ash calendar
When ash can be cut, and when it can be saved.
Prune or remove ash
Trunk injection window
- License
- Paid tree work in the city needs a City arborist's license and insurance (§ 94.060)
- Ash wood
- Stays inside the seven-county EAB quarantine
- City figures
- Removal about $800–$1,000; treatment $150–$350 every 2 years
A tree company built for ash, spruce, elm and prairie wind
Ash tree removal
Thinning, sprouting and woodpecker-stripped ash taken down before they turn brittle, timed around the beetle season, wood kept inside the quarantine.
Ash removal →
Emerald ash borer treatment
Trunk injections for healthy ash worth keeping, every two years, applied leaf-out to mid-June, with an honest call on which trees qualify.
EAB treatment →
Tree removal
Silver maples, cottonwoods, dying spruce and storm-cracked elms, rigged down in pieces over roofs and fences, chipped, hauled and raked.
Tree removal →
24/7 emergency tree service
A limb on the roof, a trunk across the driveway, a tree on the service line: dispatched by priority any hour, paperwork afterward.
Emergency service →
Tree trimming & pruning
Deadwood, clearance over the roof and the street, structural pruning on young trees. Never topping, which the City bans on public trees.
Trimming →
Boulevard & street trees
Project TRIM letters, the 10-, 12- and 16-foot clearances, the free removal permit and the stump ground 6 to 8 inches down.
Boulevard trees →
Stump grinding
Ground below grade, chips hauled or left, 811 called before we dig, ready for grass or a new tree.
Stump grinding →
Spruce & evergreen care
Colorado spruce dying from the bottom up with Cytospora canker, needlecast, and windbreak rows that have outgrown the yard.
Spruce care →
Replacement tree planting
Bur oak, linden, hackberry or a resistant elm where the ash came out, with the City planting permit when it goes on the boulevard.
Planting →Three numbers behind most Sioux Falls tree calls
The beetle was found here first in South Dakota, in May 2018, by a tree crew pruning ash on the north side. Here is what has happened since.
Of the urban forest was ash
When emerald ash borer was found in 2018, about 40 percent of the trees in Sioux Falls were ash. The City has banned planting new ash since September 2018.
Ash removed from City property
Parks and Recreation had taken down nearly 17,000 ash from boulevards, parks and other City land by September 2024, under a 10-year response plan.
Still standing on private property
That was the City's 2024 estimate. The 2024 Forest Health Survey condemned 530 private ash, about triple the year before, and City staff said the number could double or triple again.
Four trees that keep our phone ringing
Green ash
Planted by the thousand after Dutch elm disease, now dying from the top down. The City says untreated ash typically die within about five years of attack, and dead ash turns brittle.
Ash removal →Colorado spruce
SDSU Extension calls Cytospora canker on Colorado spruce a serious problem in Sioux Falls, especially in rows planted about 10 feet apart 20 to 30 years ago. They lose limbs from the bottom up.
Spruce care →
American elm
Dutch elm disease reached South Dakota in Minnehaha County in 1967 and is still killing elms. Survivors can be protected with injections every three years, if you catch them early.
Elm and oak care →
Cottonwood & silver maple
Fast-growing, huge and weak-wooded. They're what lands on houses in a derecho, and the trees most likely to need a crane when they come down.
Crane removal →
A prairie city that planted its trees by hand, and now has to replace a lot of them
Sioux Falls grew up on open prairie along the Big Sioux River, on pink Sioux quartzite. The residents of the Cathedral neighborhood were among the first to bring trees to the prairie, and the city has been a Tree City USA for more than four decades. Then the trees that were planted to replace the elms after Dutch elm disease were mostly ash. About 40 percent of the city's trees were ash when the beetle arrived, and the City estimates infested ash are now found throughout the city limits.
The rules are specific. Paid tree work needs a City arborist's license. The abutting owner is responsible for the boulevard tree in the parking strip, from planting to removal. Owners must keep 10 feet of clearance over sidewalks, 12 over streets and 16 over arterials and collectors. Ash can't be pruned, removed or moved from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and ash wood can't leave the seven-county quarantine. We work inside all of it.
Then there's the wind. Three EF-2 tornadoes crossed the south side on September 10, 2019. The May 12, 2022 derecho gusted to 78 mph just south of the city. The July 5 derecho that summer hit 80 mph at the airport. In July 2026 the southern metro saw 72 mph at the airport and reports over 80 near Tea and Harrisburg. We've cleaned up after storms like these, and we answer the phone when they happen.
Four steps, no surprises
Call or send the form
A thinning ash, a City letter, a spruce dying from the bottom, a limb on the garage: tell us what you're seeing. We answer around the clock.
An estimator walks the property
Usually within a day or two. They identify the tree, measure the trunk, check the canopy and the decay, look at what it would hit, and tell you whether it can be treated or should come down.
Written, itemized price
Removal, trimming, treatment, stump grinding, haul-off and crane time, each on its own line, plus the timing rules for ash. No deposit until you approve and we schedule.
Done in a day, raked like we weren't there
Most residential jobs take a day. Everything is chipped and hauled, the lawn raked, the stump ground if you asked, and photos sent the same evening.
From the Cathedral District to Harrisburg, Tea and Dell Rapids
We work across Sioux Falls every week: the Cathedral Historic District and downtown, the tree-lined streets around McKennan Park and All Saints, the north side near the airport where the beetle was first found, and the south side from 41st Street to the newer neighborhoods past 69th, where the 2019 tornadoes touched down.
Beyond the city we cover Brandon, Harrisburg, Tea, Hartford, Dell Rapids, Canton, Lennox, Crooks and Renner. That's all of Minnehaha and Lincoln Counties, inside the same EAB quarantine, each town with its own trees and storms.
Questions Sioux Falls homeowners ask us
How much does ash tree removal cost in Sioux Falls?
The City of Sioux Falls put a typical ash removal by a licensed arborist at around $800 to $1,000 in 2024, and said the price goes up as emerald ash borer weakens the wood. For 2026 budgeting, a small ash runs about $400 to $800, a typical yard ash of 12 to 24 inches across about $800 to $1,600, and a big or dead ash over a house $1,500 to $3,500. Stump grinding and haul-off are separate lines on our written price.
Should I treat my ash tree or remove it?
Treat it if it's healthy, worth keeping and has lost less than about 30 percent of its canopy. SDSU Extension says a tree with around 40 percent decline is too late to treat. The City puts treatment at about $150 to $350 per tree every two years for trees 10 to 25 inches across. Remove it if it's already thinning badly, sprouting from the trunk, or full of woodpecker holes. A dead ash gets brittle fast, which makes removal harder and more expensive.
Can you cut down an ash tree in the summer?
Not in Sioux Falls. The City says not to prune or remove ash from Memorial Day to Labor Day, when adult beetles are flying and drawn to fresh cuts, and moving ash wood is prohibited in that window. The exception is a tree that has already failed or is about to. From Labor Day to the next Memorial Day, ash work is fine.
Do I need a licensed arborist?
Yes. Sioux Falls Code § 94.060 says anyone who maintains or removes trees in the city for pay must hold a City arborist's license and carry general liability insurance. The City publishes the list of licensed companies. Ask any crew for both before they start.
I got a letter from the City about my tree. What now?
The Forestry team surveys more than 67,000 parcels every summer. If they find a dead, diseased or infested tree on private property, the owner gets a letter to remove it, with a deadline based on how dangerous it is. Call us with the letter in hand. We'll look at the tree, give you a written price and schedule it before the deadline. Under the code, if the owner doesn't act, the City can do the work and bill it to the property.
Do you really answer at night?
Yes, 24 hours a day, every day, including the night of a derecho. If a limb is on the roof or across the driveway, call. Your call is answered at any hour, emergencies are dispatched by priority, and the paperwork happens after the tree is off the house.