BILLINGS — Across the state throughout the summer, massive wind storms have knocked over trees and brought down large branches, causing severe damage to homes and vehicles.
The owner of 4 Seasons Tree Service in Billings, Jonathan Martinez, believes some of the damage could have been avoided if property owners were properly maintaining their trees.
“Not properly pruning your tree regularly can lead to those things. So having your trees taken care of is beneficial not only for your property, your property value but also the well-being of the tree,” Martinez said on Monday.
Billings homeowner Erin Schmidt experienced the consequences firsthand during a windstorm this summer.
"We noticed when we looked outside was, this whole section (of tree) was lying on the ground,” Schmidt said. “The immediate thought was just devastation over losing this tree. You know, you can't replace a tree. We can replace the shingles, we can replace the siding, the broken windows. We can't replace this tree.”
Martinez believes rental properties could be contributing to the lack of tree maintenance.
“I think over the last 10 years or so, I think a lot of property rentals have come into existence. You have Airbnb's. So, you don't have homeowners living at these properties. So, we have a situation where trees aren't being maintained, or taken care of, or even thought about until it's already a problem,” Martinez said.
He also urges that property owners use someone with proper tree knowledge when it comes to upkeep.
“There's a big difference between people out there cutting trees and arborists out there doing work that they're trained to do and trained to see,” Martinez said.
Something Schmidt wishes she would have done sooner, rather than cleaning up the aftermath.
“We had no idea how much weight it was carrying up top in the weak spots, you know, had we known that we could have taken steps ahead of time to prevent this,” Schmidt said.
