About Westcoast-Tree.org

What this site is

Westcoast-Tree.org explains the rules and costs of tree work in two states only: Washington and Oregon. The pages cover city permit thresholds, state licensing law, burn rules, utility trimming policies, pests like emerald ash borer, and what a removal is likely to cost. Nothing here is written for any other state, and nothing is written for contractors; it is written for the person standing under the tree.

The site is a publisher. It is not a tree service, a contractor, a lead marketplace or an arborist. No one here will climb your tree, and no one here will quote it.

How the site earns money

The phone number on every page is a referral line. When you call it, the call is routed to an independent tree service that pays for calls from your area, and this site is paid for the call. That is the only revenue. There are no display ads, no quote forms, no email list and no links to lead marketplaces.

The company that answers is not chosen, inspected or endorsed by this site. Treat it exactly as you would any contractor you found on your own: ask for the license number, run it through the state lookup, ask for a certificate of insurance, and get the scope in writing before anyone starts a saw. The lookups are listed below and in the two state guides.

What the site does not do

How facts are sourced

Every rule, fee, threshold and phone number on the site comes from a primary source: the municipal code or the city’s own permit page, the Revised Code of Washington or Oregon Revised Statutes, a state agency page (L&I, CCB, LCB, DNR, ODF, Ecology, DEQ, ODA, WSDA), a utility’s own vegetation page, or a university extension publication [1][2][3]. Contractor websites and directories are not used as sources. Each page ends with a numbered source list, and every item carries the date it was read.

Prices are handled differently, because there are no public price lists for tree work. Where a page gives a dollar range for a job, it is a modeled estimate built from the BLS mean wage for tree trimmers and pruners ($35.40 in Oregon and $32.20 in Washington, May 2025), a payroll and equipment multiplier, and a crew-hour table by tree height [1]. Those ranges are always labeled “Modeled estimate, not quotes” and the full method, including the multipliers for structures, access and cranes, is published on the methodology page. City fees are quoted only when the city publishes them, with the citation.

Rules change. Portland dropped its tree permit fees on July 1, 2025 [4]; Vancouver renumbered its tree code on July 31, 2026 [5]; Bellingham’s landmark-tree rule is an interim ordinance [6]. Each page shows its check date in the hero and in the sources, so you can see how old the reading is before you rely on it.

Domain history

This domain was previously used by Westcoast Tree Care Inc, a tree service based in Tumwater, Washington, founded in 1998 and no longer operating. The current site is not that company, is not affiliated with it, and has no relationship with its former owners, staff or customers. It does not use that company’s phone numbers, addresses, customer reviews, photographs or logos, and it makes no claim to that company’s history, licenses or work.

If you were a customer of Westcoast Tree Care Inc and are looking for records, warranty help or a former employee, this site cannot help and has no contact information for them. Washington business filings can be searched through the Secretary of State’s corporations and charities system [7].

Corrections

If a rule, number, phone line or citation on this site is wrong or out of date, say so through the contact link in the footer and name the page and the source that contradicts it. Reports are checked against the primary source. When a correction is made, the page’s check date is updated and material changes are noted in the sources list rather than silently overwritten. Reports that rely on a contractor’s website or a forum post are read but are not enough on their own to change a published rule; the city code or agency page is.

The same applies to the modeled estimates. If you have a written quote from a Washington or Oregon crew that falls well outside a published range, the method is reviewed against it; the quote itself is never published.

Check a crew yourself

These are the official lookups the site points to on every service page. They take a few minutes and they are the whole point of the money you are about to spend.

• Washington: L&I Verify a Contractor shows registration, workers’ comp, bond lawsuits and safety violations; RCW 18.27.010 counts tree removal as contractor work [2][8]. Walkthrough: Washington tree service license lookup.
• Oregon: the CCB license search or the LCB Verify a License tool; ORS 701.005 and ORS 671.525 both reach tree removal and pruning, so one of the two licenses is required [3][9][10]. Walkthrough: Oregon tree service license lookup.
• Both states: the ISA credential directory confirms a Certified Arborist or TRAQ qualification by name [11]. What an arborist does and when you need one: arborist services.