Tree Service in Fort McCoy, FL

Tree Service in Fort McCoy has a different focus from work in town. The community sits northeast of Ocala on County Road 316, directly north of Silver Springs on County Road 315, and just west of the Ocala National Forest. Many homes are on wooded acreage with pines, scrub oaks and hardwoods close on every side. Elite Tree Service Ocala helps owners here keep trees off their homes, clear defensible space and remove the dead pines that build up in forest-edge woods.

The forest next door

The Ocala National Forest was established in 1908 and is the oldest national forest east of the Mississippi and the southernmost in the continental United States. It holds the largest concentration of sand pine in the world, along with longleaf pine sandhills. Sand pine is a short-lived, shallow-rooted tree adapted to fire and dry, deep sand. Where it grows near homes, it tends to tip over in wind or die off in groups as it ages, and removal is often the only sensible option.

Fire and space around the house

Scrub and pine woods are fire-adapted. The forest's Big Scrub area saw a lightning-started fire in 1935 that burned about 35,000 acres in four hours, the fastest-spreading wildfire in Forest Service history. Modern prescribed burns keep fuel down inside the forest, but private land near it can build up a lot of dead material. Practical steps around a home include:

• Removing dead trees and limbs within reach of the house
• Raising low limbs so fire can't climb from the ground into the canopy
• Thinning dense young pines and scrub close to structures
• Keeping gutters, roofs and the area against the walls clear of needles and leaves
• Chipping cut material or hauling it rather than leaving large brush piles near the home

A frontier name

The name traces to Fort Mackay, from the Second Seminole War era; Captain Mackay, head of the local militia, was killed while surveying the Itonia Scrub on March 20, 1839. The community's first school was a log cabin near the fort, and its old brick school building became the Fort McCoy Public Library in 1996.

Typical jobs here

Most calls are for dead pines near homes, trees leaning toward sheds or wells, driveway clearing on long sandy drives, and storm cleanup after a summer squall knocks shallow-rooted pines over. On acreage we can quote a whole cleanup in phases so it fits your budget.

Septic, wells and long drives

If your home runs on a well and septic system, as many rural properties do, the trees around them need attention. Roots seek out the moisture in drain fields, and heavy equipment driven across a septic area can crack lines. On long sandy drives, a single fallen pine can cut you off from the road. We plan each job to keep trucks on the drive and off the septic field, and to clear the trees most likely to block your way out.

Estimates

Call (352) 320-5752 or use the form. Long drives and gates are common out here, so a note on access helps us plan. Get a free estimate