Do-It-Yourself tree removal

After running about town to find a new furnace, Tracy Hayter tackled the outside-the-house issue of a dying tree in her front yard.

"After receiving a couple of quotes for the removal of the sickly fruit tree in my front yard, I decided to remove it myself (upward of $700 to remove one tree!).  In any event, we were out there sawing it down by hand and the neighbors very kindly came by and offered to let us use their brand spanking new-fresh out of the box chainsaw." With the tree mostly gone they need only a larger chainsaw to cut away the thicker part of the trunk.

While some people came in the night and took away the good fireburning pieces, Tracey was left wondering whether there were any eco-friendly ideas for disposal of what was left and what kind of ground cover would be the best for bees/bird/hummingbirds once a new tree is planted.

She jokes, "I was thinking of digging a big hole in my backyard and burying [the tree] back there as I can't grow anything under the cedars trees anyway and letting them decompose there--Nick thinks I am nuts so any helpful hints would be great." 

Tracy's experience rose two questions:

• What does the City of Vancouver do with yard waste? and
• Are there eco-friendly ways of disposing yard waste like tree branches?

In terms of ground cover, it's a good idea to choose drought tolerant speciesto minimize the need for irrigation.  You should also incorporate native species whenever possible.  They are better suited to the climate and will require less fertilization and irrigation. Evergreen Lawn and Garden Smart has a database of native species, and  the Washington Invasive Species Coalition also has a database of invasive species to avoid