Need black walnut tree removal service that will value the lumber produced, ideas?

[oenophile]

Basic Question: Is the black walnut tree that needs to be removed from my yard in the Menlo Park / Palo Alto area of California (SF Bay Area) valuable? How would I go about finding someone who would value it and defray removal costs (or who would otherwise safely remove and attempt to sell and provide value back)?

Details:
We have a beautiful 50+ year-old black walnut tree in our back yard. We recently called a certified arborist out to look at an olive tree that isn't doing well. The arborist immediately looked at the black walnut tree and said "I'm here for the walnut tree, right?" We knew the the walnut tree was old and not doing well, but hadn't thought it was in serious trouble. The arborist advised us that the tree was dying and should be removed. (The arborist pointed to mushrooms and other fungus growing all over the roots in areas, and multiple dead limbs 100 feet up.)

We are waiting for an official estimate, but due to the suburban location (at the corner of four lots in the back of each) and the difficulty of safe removal, we suspect something very expensive, around $5,000 to remove it. The tree is very large, and in the back yard of a house with no easy access (narrow side yards, no back yard access to street), and overhangs three or four lots and at least 1 house.

We are planning on getting a second opinion from another arborist before doing anything. So my question is not, whether it needs to be removed. (We will be very careful before doing that.)

Here's the issue: The removal is very expensive and we'd love to defray some or all of the cost by selling the wood.

It doesn't seem like the arborist (or the tree company he's contracting with) is valuing the wood of the tree except perhaps as firewood. I've read in multiple places that black walnut trees can sometimes be valuable. However, all the sites mentioning this say to contact "your local forestry evaluator" or your local "walnut tree buyer". Walnut trees are really rare in the Palo Alto / Menlo Park / San Francisco CA Bay Area, and I don't know where to look to find someone who could remove it and sell it to defray the removal costs.

I do trust the arborist (we like him and will likely end up using him), but I'm also a bit suspicious that the tree removal company will simply take advantage of my ignorance and the fact that there aren't really any companies that specialize in valuing the trees around here, and will truck it out and sell it for a material amount without providing me with the value.

I'm not trying to make a buck, here. I'd much rather keep the tree. But it would be nice to find out for certain if the tree is valuable and to figure out if there's a way to capture that value to defray the extremely high removal costs.

Any ideas?

THANKS!

(Oh, and the olive tree is fine!)

 

[ch woodchuck]

Urban walnut trees that appear suitable as lumber or veneer trees usually are avoided by buyers because of the risk that they may contain objects, such as nails, wire, insulators, clothes hooks, and more, that would damage saw blades or veneer knives. This is perhaps the most important reason timber buyers do not commonly purchase urban trees. A substantial percentage of all urban trees have grown over such foreign objects and contain them embedded in their wood
The other issue is the rot factor.Mushrooms at the tree base indicate heart rot,which destroys the wood quality

 

[indiansprings]

+1 on the above post. Being from Missouri where we are known for walnut, I have run across the same thing. Most people think walnut equates to black gold. Unless the tree produces multiple veneer grade logs it just isn't worth that much. If we cut them, it is usually in the fall when the sap is down.
Being an urban tree with the disease issues you have mentioned prolly make the tree more of a firewood prospect than a veneer log.
Any metal in the tree will leave a telltale blue spot in the wood that any buyer will notice immediately and knock the value substantially.
Good luck, but I suspect your tree isn't worth much.

 

[Swamp Yankee]

ch woodchuck hit it

No commercial lumber mill wants to deal with yard trees for the exact reasons mentioned. It matters not the species. Losing a saw blade or worse injuring and / or killing someone when it shatters isn't worth the risk.

From your description, it sounds like just getting the 1 or perhaps 2 logs out to where they could even be moved by someone with a portable or Alaskan mill would be a major undertaking.

The best and easiest way to defer the cost is sell the firewood for what $ it will bring,

Take Care

 

[clark]

What happened to the tree?

Curious how this turned out. If the tree is still standing I may be able to help.

Basic Question: Is the black walnut tree that needs to be removed from my yard in the Menlo Park / Palo Alto area of California (SF Bay Area) valuable? How would I go about finding someone who would value it and defray removal costs (or who would otherwise safely remove and attempt to sell and provide value back)?

Details:
We have a beautiful 50+ year-old black walnut tree in our back yard. We recently called a certified arborist out to look at an olive tree that isn't doing well. The arborist immediately looked at the black walnut tree and said "I'm here for the walnut tree, right?" We knew the the walnut tree was old and not doing well, but hadn't thought it was in serious trouble. The arborist advised us that the tree was dying and should be removed. (The arborist pointed to mushrooms and other fungus growing all over the roots in areas, and multiple dead limbs 100 feet up.)

We are waiting for an official estimate, but due to the suburban location (at the corner of four lots in the back of each) and the difficulty of safe removal, we suspect something very expensive, around $5,000 to remove it. The tree is very large, and in the back yard of a house with no easy access (narrow side yards, no back yard access to street), and overhangs three or four lots and at least 1 house.

We are planning on getting a second opinion from another arborist before doing anything. So my question is not, whether it needs to be removed. (We will be very careful before doing that.)

Here's the issue: The removal is very expensive and we'd love to defray some or all of the cost by selling the wood.

It doesn't seem like the arborist (or the tree company he's contracting with) is valuing the wood of the tree except perhaps as firewood. I've read in multiple places that black walnut trees can sometimes be valuable. However, all the sites mentioning this say to contact "your local forestry evaluator" or your local "walnut tree buyer". Walnut trees are really rare in the Palo Alto / Menlo Park / San Francisco CA Bay Area, and I don't know where to look to find someone who could remove it and sell it to defray the removal costs.

I do trust the arborist (we like him and will likely end up using him), but I'm also a bit suspicious that the tree removal company will simply take advantage of my ignorance and the fact that there aren't really any companies that specialize in valuing the trees around here, and will truck it out and sell it for a material amount without providing me with the value.

I'm not trying to make a buck, here. I'd much rather keep the tree. But it would be nice to find out for certain if the tree is valuable and to figure out if there's a way to capture that value to defray the extremely high removal costs.

Any ideas?

THANKS!

(Oh, and the olive tree is fine!)

 

[Dennis_Peacock]

We may never know what happened.
I agree with what others said about yard trees. I'm a woodturner and I've come across some really weird stuff in wood chunks from trees....bullets, horse shoes, old barbed wire fencing, and the list goes on and on from there.

 

[fishercat]

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh..................

the black walnut dream...................shattered again.