Tree service in Marion County, Oregon

Storm records for Marion County

December is Marion County’s storm month. NOAA logged 34 of the county’s 148 reports since 2016 in December, then 27 in February and 23 in January; 64% of the record falls between November and February. September is the outlier with 16, almost all tied to the 2020 fires.

Heavy snow leads the type list at 60, ahead of wildfire at 34, winter storms at 21, strong wind at 10 and high wind at 9. Three tornadoes and two ice storms also appear. The county ranks 13th of Oregon’s 36, and NOAA’s record lists 11 deaths.

The last three years were calmer than the three before: 37 reports in 2023 through 2025 against 70 in 2020 through 2022. NOAA attached $3.0 billion in property damage to the high-wind reports of the September 7, 2020 episode across the zones that include the county.

NWS forecast zones covering the county: Cascade Foothills of Marion and Linn Counties; Cascades of Marion and Linn Counties; East Central Willamette Valley.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 2016 to June 2026 · NWS zone-county correlation files (2019 to 2026 versions). Checked 2026-10-02. NOAA Storm Events 2016-2026; zone-based events assigned to every county the NWS zone covers using the zone-county correlation file in force on the event date (2019-04-02 file used for 2016-2018).

Hazard ratings

Strong wind: Relatively HighIce storm: Relatively ModerateWinter weather: Relatively ModerateWildfire: Very Low

FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates Marion County Relatively High for strong wind, Relatively Moderate for ice storms and winter weather, and Very Low for wildfire, with an overall rating of Relatively High. The wind score of 89.9 is among the factors that push the overall rating up: a lot of people live under a lot of large trees in the valley.

USDA’s Forest Service puts wildfire risk to homes at the 23rd percentile among Oregon counties. The valley floor is low risk; the Cascade foothills that burned in 2020 are not, so defensible space belongs in any tree plan up there.

Wildfire risk to homes: higher than 23% of Oregon counties (USDA Forest Service, Wildfire Risk to Communities).

What to do about wildfire exposure: defensible space in Washington and Oregon.

Source: FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025 release · USDA Forest Service, Wildfire Risk to Communities (April 2026 download). Checked 2026-10-02.

Burning the debris

Oregon DEQ sets the burning rules, and Marion County has its own section, OAR 340-264-0110, shared with Benton, Linn, Polk and Yamhill. That section could not be read when this page was checked, so confirm open-burning conditions for your address with DEQ or your fire district first. If the tree is an ash, the quarantine rules below limit what you can do with the wood regardless. The Oregon burning guide has the statewide baseline.

Full rules, seasons and alternatives: yard debris burning rules in Oregon.

Source: Oregon DEQ. Checked 2026-10-02.

Pests and quarantines

Emerald ash borer (EAB) · quarantineMediterranean oak borer (MOB)

Two wood borers are confirmed in Marion County. Emerald ash borer is confirmed and the county is inside Oregon’s EAB quarantine: raw ash wood stays inside the quarantine and may leave only as chips 1 inch or smaller, as kiln-dried debarked lumber, or after heating to 160 F at the core for 60 minutes with ODA permission. Cover ash loads during the April 1 to September 30 flight period. The Oregon EAB page has the full rule.

Mediterranean oak borer is confirmed too, with no quarantine. Do not move cut oak firewood more than 10 miles from where it was cut; burn or chip infested trees on site, stump included, to an inch or less. Report either insect with photos and a location to the Oregon Invasive Species hotline.

• Emerald ash borer (EAB): OR (ODF/ODA): keep raw ash wood inside the quarantine; move only as <=1-in chips or kiln-dried debarked lumber, or heat 160F core for 60 min with ODA permission; cover loads during flight period Apr 1
• Mediterranean oak borer (MOB): Don't move cut oak firewood >10 miles from source; cut then burn or chip (<=1 in) infested trees including the stump on site; report with photos/location to Oregon Invasives Hotline

Source: Emerald ash borer (EAB) · Mediterranean oak borer (MOB). Checked 2026-10-02.

Power lines and utilities

Consumers Power Inc. is the utility mapped for Marion County here. CPI prunes its lines but does not typically prune the service drop, so that line is the owner’s responsibility. It lists no dedicated outage phone; use the outage center at outage.cpi.coop. If a different utility serves your address, check your bill and the utilities index.

Source: utility vegetation-management pages linked above; OAR 437-002-0306 (OR-OSHA). Checked 2026-10-02.

Cities and towns in Marion County

Marion County has 355,777 residents (Census Vintage 2025, up 2.85% since 2020), and half of them live in Salem (181,779). Salem requires a permit for some private tree removals; check the Salem page before you book. Keizer (39,140) and Woodburn (31,948) were researched but no tree rule was found, so call the city first; see Keizer and Woodburn.

Silverton (10,450), Stayton (8,488), Aumsville (4,234), Hubbard (3,426), Mount Angel (3,392), Jefferson (3,327) and Sublimity (2,967) have not been researched yet.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Vintage 2025 and 2020 Census. Checked 2026-10-02. Permit rules from each city’s code; see the city pages.

Labor index

BLS puts the mean wage for tree trimmers and pruners in the Salem metro at $34.49 an hour. It is a wage, not a price; the modeled crew rate below adds burden, equipment and overhead. Census counted 220 landscaping-services establishments in Marion County in 2023, so a second assessment on a planned job is easy to get.

Salem, OR: $34.49 per hour mean wage for tree trimmers and pruners (BLS, May 2025). This is a labor index, not a price; the modeled crew-hour cost used on this site is $225 (method).

220 landscaping-services establishments were counted in Marion County in 2023 (Census County Business Patterns, NAICS 561730).

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 37-3013 · U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, NAICS 561730. Checked 2026-10-02.

Climate and growing conditions

The 2023 USDA map puts most of Marion County in zone 8b, with 7b toward the Cascades. Douglas fir, bigleaf maple and Oregon white oak are the common large yard trees on the valley floor. If you lose an ash to the borer, do not replant ash, and with 60 heavy-snow reports on file, favor strong branch structure over fast growth.

USDA hardiness zones 7b, 8b (2023 map, by ZIP code).

Source: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (OSU PRISM ZIP data). Checked 2026-10-02.

Nearby counties

• Clackamas County198 storm reports since 2016
• Linn County141 storm reports since 2016
• Polk County78 storm reports since 2016
• Yamhill County79 storm reports since 2016
• Multnomah County208 storm reports since 2016

What to do next

In Salem, check the permit section first. Then get a risk assessment to decide between trimming and removal, and if the tree is an ash, ask how the crew will handle the wood under the quarantine. Then call.

Confirm the company’s CCB license through the Oregon tree service license lookup.

Services: tree removal · trimming · stump grinding · emergency. Check any company: Oregon license lookup.

Major storms that reached Marion County

These regional storms produced NOAA Storm Events reports in Marion County since 2016. Each storm page lists the dates, report counts and the other counties hit.

• January 2024 ice storm
• December 2022 ice storm and windstorm
• February 2021 ice storm
• January 2021 windstorm
• Labor Day 2020 east wind event