FAQs

How do we best get in contact with Shelterbelt Solutions?
Fill out the response form on this website. This will result in a 5% discount off the hourly rate.

Call 800-240-7046 for the Trees On The Move Inc main office.

Call 701-202-5000 to reach our project coordinator.

You will find a Trees On The Move Inc booth at the major farm shows such as Big Iron in West Fargo, the KMOT Ag Show in Minot and the KFYR Agri International in Bismarck. Trees On The Move Inc also exhibits at the home shows in Fargo, Grand Forks and Bismarck.

Another good place to catch up with us is at the North Dakota Nursery and Greenhouse show in Fargo at the Ramada Inn. This is an annual show usually held in January where you will find many things of interest related to your yard and garden.

What is your response time for a project?
We try to get out to look at a prospective project as soon as possible, within a few days. Scheduling the work is always a challenge. If there is urgency for the project to be completed we can accommodate that.

What is your service area?
Our service area is the same as for our tree moving activities. We service all of North Dakota, Northwest Minnesota, and parts of South Dakota and Montana. Our equipment is very mobile and we enjoy working in out of the way places. We get enough activity in the cities with our tree moving activities. We are country folks.

Why are farmers taking out shelterbelts?
Some of the reasons are quite obvious. The trees are a poor variety such as Chinese Elm and they are dying and falling down. In Central and Western North Dakota farming has changed. With the advent of no-till and minimum-till there is not the need for trees to prevent wind erosion. Farmers have found better ways to prevent wind erosion than cluttering our wide-open spaces with unsightly trees of a variety that don’t belong here. With today’s large equipment some tree rows are a nuisance and an expense to farm around. Overlaps of seeding, spraying and harvesting costs money.

Where irrigation is possible many times there are shelterbelts that need to be removed so pivot systems can function.

Can you remove small trees or bushes?
Yes, the tree xtrakter skid steer attachment is very efficient in removing small trees such as volunteer Chinese Elm and bushes such as Caragana in a project.

There are a lot of stumps in my row of Chinese Elm.
The tree xtrakter takes out stumps with ease and we also have available the stump grinder that is a seldom used solution.

Does your process leave many roots in the ground?
Whether we grind out a stump or take it out with the xtrakter the shallow lateral roots are removed, the deep roots remain in the ground where they can deteriorate.

How did you get rid of your burn piles?
We used a brush grapple and pallet forks on skid steers to separate the wood from the dirt and then burned the wood. The little bit remaining after the burn was buried using a skid steer. This is something you might consider if you have had trees taken out and piled up using a bulldozer.

What kind of response do you get from customers?

"Wow! "         "Amazing!"          "I didn’t think that could be done with anything but a bulldozer!"

"I didn’t think there was a way to get those dead trees out of that windbreak without
destroying all of the trees. I thought I was going to have to bulldoze everything."

What about cost sharing of removal by the SCS?
As we understand it there is cost sharing available for shelterbelt removal. However, there is not always funding available and they seem to prefer that you deal with the local excavating company. There is also the stipulation that you replant trees back into exactly the same location where you just had them removed. We suggest that you carefully research that subject on your own.

How do you charge?
We work by the hour and the rate is currently $95.00 per hour per skid steer. Sometimes we run 1 skid steer, sometimes we run as many as 3, it depends on the project size and maneuvering space. We will give an estimate. Our cost for completing a tree removal project may compare of even by higher than other conventional means of removal. However, our finished work is much more acceptable and probably cheaper in the long run when you factor in what it costs to finish after a bulldozer or wheel loader is done with what they are capable of.

Have a nice day and thanks for reading all of this information!

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