Tree Service in Sunol, CA

Sunol is rural in a way most of the Tri-Valley is not, and tree service here looks different. The unincorporated community covers about 28.6 square miles but has only around 398 homes and 922 residents. It sits in the Sunol Valley near Alameda Creek, at the east end of Niles Canyon, where State Route 84 winds about seven miles west to Fremont.

Storm damage and emergency work

On rural parcels, a fallen tree often blocks the only driveway or lands on a fence that keeps animals in. After a winter storm we start with what is urgent: clearing a path for vehicles, getting limbs off a roof or outbuilding, and making hung-up or split trees safe. Cleanup and wood handling can follow once the hazard is gone. We cannot promise a time on the phone after a regional storm, since everyone calls at once, but we will tell you honestly when we can be there.

Very old homes

Sunol's housing is unusually old. Census estimates show about 40 percent of its homes were built in 1939 or earlier, and the median year built is 1958. The town grew around land sold by Thomas Foxwell Bachelder in 1884, the same year the railroad depot was built. Old homesteads often have very large trees planted close to the house: black walnut, eucalyptus, pepper trees and fruit orchards that have gone unpruned for decades.

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Fire and fuel

The hills around Sunol are part of the Diablo Range, where the 2020 SCU Lightning Complex burned close to 400,000 acres across six counties, including Alameda. Rural parcels carry a lot of fuel: dead limbs, fallen trees left where they dropped, eucalyptus bark and grass under oaks. Removing dead wood, raising low canopy and clearing debris near buildings all help. The State Fire Marshal's hazard maps show how your parcel is classified; the maps measure hazard and do not account for the defensible space you create.

Creek-side parcels

Alameda Creek and the Sunol Water Temple area are part of a regional water system, and trees along creeks hold the banks. If a tree near a creek needs work, we leave root systems in place where they protect the bank, and we suggest checking with the county and any water agency before cutting in or next to a channel.

County rules

Alameda County says there are currently no countywide ordinances regulating trees on private property in unincorporated areas. Trees in the county road right-of-way are protected under the county Tree Ordinance. Call (925) 966-3413 to talk about your property.