A village of 2,415 on the Mohawk's south bank

Tree Service in Mohawk, NY

Careful work on tight village lots and trees along Fulmer Creek, where ice jams and summer floods have hit again and again.

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Cleanup plan agreed up front: chips, logs and brush

Trees, Tight Lots and a Flood-Prone Creek

Tree service in Mohawk, NY usually means working in close quarters. The village packs 2,415 people into less than a square mile, so most yards are small, houses sit near each other and a tree coming down has very little open ground to land on. On top of that, Fulmer Creek runs right through the village to the Mohawk River, and its floods shape which trees stay healthy and which ones start to lean.

Fulmer Creek's record

Fulmer Creek is 11.5 miles long with a 26.2 square mile watershed, and it ends where it meets the Mohawk River and Erie Canal after passing under West Main Street and Route 5S. Major floods have been recorded on it since 1889, most of them caused by ice jams between late December and spring. More recent events include a severe flood in August and September 2011, major flooding in June 2013 that damaged most trailers at the Leatherstocking Trailer Park, and another ice jam flood there in February 2014. When the Mohawk itself is high, the lower creek can back up.

What repeated flooding does to trees

Water that sits around roots for days starves them of oxygen. Moving water and ice strip bark from trunks and carve away banks. Over a few seasons that shows up as thinning crowns, dead tops, trees tilting toward the channel and roots exposed on the cut bank. A tree like that can stand for years and then fall during an ordinary windstorm. If you live near the creek, look for new cracks in the soil on the uphill side of a leaning tree; that is a sign the roots are moving.

The GreenPlain project

The village has been working on the Fulmer Creek GreenPlain project, which aims to restore natural floodplain along about 1.3 miles of the creek corridor, with land acquired through the FEMA buyout program. If your property borders public land or a restoration area, let us know so we keep our work on your side of the line and leave the stream bank work to the agencies running it.

Services for Mohawk properties

Sectional tree removal using ropes and rigging when there is no room to drop a tree whole
Pruning to clear roofs, porches, garages and service drops
Emergency storm tree service for limbs on houses, cars and driveways
Stump grinding for small yards where a stump takes up real space
Hazard tree assessment for trees near the creek or after a flood
Brush and lot clearing on larger parcels in German Flatts outside the village

Ash, winter and the valley

Like the rest of the valley, Mohawk gets heavy snow; Utica, a short drive west, averages 101.8 inches a year. Emerald ash borer, first found in New York in 2009, is another reason ash trees here are dying back. Larvae tunnel under the bark and cut off the flow of water and nutrients, and the result is a dead, brittle trunk that is harder to rig safely. Removing a declining ash before it is fully dead is usually the cleaner job.

How to reach us

Call (315) 743-5662 or send a few photos of the tree and what is around it. We will set a time to come out and give you a written estimate.

Call (315) 743-5662

Mohawk at a Glance

Small, dense village. Mohawk had 2,415 residents at the 2020 census, a density of 2,752.3 people per square mile, on less than one square mile of land. The village was incorporated on April 16, 1844.
Ice-jam floods on Fulmer Creek. Major Fulmer Creek floods have been recorded since 1889, mostly from ice jams between late December and spring, including February 1971 and February 2014. A severe flood in 2011 reached a stage of about 14.6 feet.
Evacuations in 2006. During the June 28, 2006 flooding, the National Weather Service logged Fulmer Creek flooding a trailer park in German Flatts with 12 homes evacuated, and about 200 people evacuated from Ilion, Dolgeville, Mohawk and Frankfort.
Floodplain restoration underway. The Fulmer Creek GreenPlain project aims to restore natural floodplain along about 1.3 miles of the creek, using land acquired through the FEMA buyout program. One phase received a $112,500 state Environmental Protection Fund grant.

Our Services in Mohawk, NY

Mohawk Questions

My yard in Mohawk is tiny. Can a big tree still come down safely?

Yes. On small lots we take trees down in pieces, lowering limbs and trunk sections with ropes instead of felling the whole tree. It takes longer than a straight drop, but it keeps the pieces off houses, fences and the neighbor's yard.

A tree by Fulmer Creek started leaning after high water. Is it urgent?

A new lean after a flood is a warning sign, especially if the soil has heaved or cracked on the opposite side. If it could hit a house, car or road, call [PHONE] and we will look at it as soon as we can.

Can you work on the creek bank itself?

We can remove trees on your own property near the creek. Work in the channel or on public restoration land is a different matter, and stream work can need state approval, so we keep to private ground and tell you if a job looks like it needs a permit.

Free Estimates in Mohawk, NY

Free estimates for tree work anywhere in the Village of Mohawk.

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