Quick answer
Yes, we work all over Lower Merion. The first question here is where the trunk sits. If more than half of it is in the public right-of-way or on township land, the township decides: you ask in writing, and the contractor needs a Public Works permit. Trees wholly on your lot are simpler, though construction removals carry their own cost rule.
Whose tree is it: the right-of-way test
Lower Merion's Shade Tree Division looks after approximately 70,000 trees along township streets and in the park system. Under the township's shade tree chapter, a tree with more than half its trunk in the public right-of-way or on township land counts as a township tree, even when it shades your house.
Residents may not prune or remove those trees themselves. The owner asks the Township Arborist and Shade Tree Commission in writing, and once private work is approved, the contractor must get a permit from the Director of Public Works before cutting. We handle the contractor side and do not start until the permit is in hand.
The township can also require owners to remove diseased trees, or low limbs over the right-of-way, at their own expense. A notice from Public Works is worth a call the week it arrives.
What Lower Merion owners ask us to do
Here the work splits by ownership: private trees we can schedule, and right-of-way trees that wait on the township.
- Tree RemovalPrivate-lot trees taken down in sections, with the township process checked first if the trunk straddles the right-of-way.
- Street Tree RemovalTrees mostly in the right-of-way, removed only after the written request, Commission approval and Public Works permit.
- Ash Tree RemovalAsh the Commission's borer alerts warn about, once they are too far gone to treat.
- Crown Raising & Clearance PruningLow limbs over the right-of-way that the township can require owners to remove at their own cost.
- Storm Damage CleanupMicroburst damage like July 2026's, cleared from roofs, drives and yards.
Borer and lanternfly alerts from the Shade Tree Commission
The Shade Tree Commission posts alerts on emerald ash borer and spotted lanternfly. Ash along the streets and in yards are worth checking for a thinning top, bark splitting off and small D-shaped holes. Treating an ash only pays while most of its crown is still alive; past that point, removal is the safer call.
Lanternfly pressure follows its favorite host, tree of heaven. Taking those out and treating the stumps does more than spraying the tree the insects happen to be feeding on, and our tree of heaven removal page explains why cutting alone backfires.
After the July 2026 microbursts
In July 2026, severe storms with microbursts damaged trees in Lower Merion and across Philadelphia. A storm-broken tree in the right-of-way still falls under the township's process, but a tree on your roof is an emergency first. We answer 24/7, make the immediate hazard safe, and then work through the paperwork for whatever can wait. The Montgomery County page covers the wider storm record.
Chapter 128: construction removals and four weeks' notice
If a shade tree is removed for new construction, Chapter 128 makes the owner pay for both the removal and the tree's value, figured with the International Society of Arboriculture valuation guide. When the township requires removal of a diseased or hazardous tree, owners get four weeks' written notice first. That window is enough to get the tree looked at, priced and scheduled on your terms.
Lower Merion tree questions
Look at where the trunk sits. If more than half of it is in the public right-of-way or on township land, it is a township tree, and any work starts with a written request.
No. Residents may not prune or remove township trees. Ask the Township Arborist and Shade Tree Commission in writing; if they approve private work, the contractor gets a Public Works permit first.
Beyond the removal itself, Chapter 128 charges the owner the tree's value under a standard arboriculture valuation guide. Ask the township for that figure before you settle the building plans.
Owners get four weeks' written notice before a required removal of a diseased or hazardous tree. Call us early in that window so the work is booked well before the deadline.
Near Lower Merion
Not sure whose tree it is in Lower Merion?
Call us and describe where it stands. We will sort out whether the township is involved, then explain how it comes down.