Out past the Whiting Rd Nature Preserve, the lots get deep and the ash get worse. Half the calls we run out there are dead ash — gray, bark shedding, limbs already on the lawn — and once they're that far gone they don't come down politely. They shatter. That changes how we rig them, and it's why we'd rather take a crane pick over the roof than climb something that's been dead three seasons.
The east side is its own problem. Drumlin slopes off Holt Rd and Bay Rd mean the bucket truck doesn't always sit where you'd like it, and the bluff properties above Irondequoit Bay's east shore can be tight enough that everything walks out by hand. Newer subdivisions off Salt Rd and Phillips Rd are easier — flat, open, quick stump grinding. Storms coming up the lake put limbs down along Empire Blvd most years. Nobody in Webster is surprised by that anymore.
Working around Webster's shoreline lots and drumlin slopes
How do I know if my ash tree is already dead?
Look for bark falling off in sheets, blonde patches where woodpeckers have been working, and shoots sprouting low on the trunk. A dead ash is brittle all the way through, so it's worth handling before it starts dropping limbs on its own.
Can you get equipment onto a sloped lot near the bay?
Usually, yes. We look at the approach first — sometimes it's a crane from the driveway instead of driving the yard, and on the steepest bluff properties we climb and rope the wood down in pieces.