Home › New Hampshire › Manchester
Tree Service in Manchester, NH
Manchester's Drop Off Facility on Dunbarton Road takes compostable yard waste but posts "NO BRUSH, LOGS, or STUMPS" on its July 2026 fee sheet (city fee sheet), so the wood from a removal needs its own plan. Call (978) 698-4783 or use the form. A person reads every request and replies with what happens next.
- Free for homeowners
- Insurance checked first
- Older city lots and big wooded yards
Ask About Tree Service in Your Area
Tell us what the tree is doing and what it hangs over. A person reads it and replies with what happens next.
Please add your name, a 10-digit phone number and a valid email.
Your request didn't go through on our end. Please call (978) 698-4783 so it isn't lost.
Too many requests have come from this connection in a short time. Please call (978) 698-4783 and we'll take it from there.
We couldn't finish the spam check. Wait a moment and send it again, or call (978) 698-4783.
Tree work in Manchester
Tree jobs in an older city with big trees
Tree Removal
Dead, dying, leaning or simply unwanted trees, including the tight ones that have to come down in sections over a roof.
Pruning & Trimming
Deadwood out, limbs lifted off the roof and the service wire, and crowns thinned so the tree stands up to wind and snow.
Stump Grinding
Grinding the stump below grade so the spot can be seeded, planted or paved, with the chips hauled off or left as mulch.
Storm Damage & Emergency Work
Trees and big limbs on the house, the car or the driveway after wind, ice or a nor'easter, once the utility has made any wires safe.
Not sure what the tree needs?
(978) 698-4783The city's Master Plan counted about 44% of Manchester's housing as built before 1950 (2009 Master Plan), so tell us what the tree leans over: roof, garage, fence or wires.
Rules and permits
Who decides about trees in Manchester
For most Manchester homeowners, the decisions that matter on a tree job are about the wood afterward, a burn permit, the wetland setback and the power lines. We couldn't find a published city permit for cutting a tree on your own land, and the city pages on street trees and its forestry staff didn't give us readable rules, so for a tree between the sidewalk and the street, ask the Parks and Recreation department before anyone touches it.
- Street trees
- Parks and Recreation runs the Green Streets Tree Canopy Program; ask the department before work on a tree in the street
- Burning
- State law: written permit from the forest fire warden; no fires on city property without written permission
- Wetlands
- Zoning wetland setbacks (§6.09); Conservation Commission comments on state wetland permits
- Curbside brush
- Nothing over 3 in. thick; bundles up to 3 ft long and 2 ft wide
- Drop Off Facility
- 500 Dunbarton Road; "NO BRUSH, LOGS, or STUMPS"
Street trees and the canopy. The Parks and Recreation department runs a Green Streets Tree Canopy Program with an online application (Green Streets). The idea goes back to the Master Plan the Planning Board adopted on December 10, 2009, whose "Greenstreets" strategy calls for more street trees across the city, possibly with wider green strips for roots, and asks the Planning Board to require street trees in new subdivisions and site plans. Its sustainability section puts it plainly: "Increase the tree canopy in the urban portion of the City" (Master Plan). If a tree in front of your house comes out, replanting fits what the city says it wants.
No fires on city land. City code §130.15 bars kindling a fire on city-owned or city-operated property without written permission from the Board of Mayor and Aldermen or its designee, with fines up to $1,000 (§130.15). That covers a crew thinking of burning brush in a park or on a city lot.
Wetlands. Manchester's zoning has wetland setbacks in §6.09(A); a June 2025 Zoning Board agenda cited a 25-foot setback in an R-1A zone for a shed (June 2025 ZBA agenda). We couldn't confirm whether that setback limits tree cutting. The Conservation Commission reviews and comments on state dredge-and-fill permit applications and encourages applicants to meet with it before filing with NHDES (Conservation Commission bylaws). If the tree stands near a brook or wet ground, ask the Planning and Community Development department before work starts.
Lake Massabesic. The lake supplies the city's drinking water, and the Master Plan describes a watershed of about 42 square miles, with Manchester Water Works controlling about 8,000 acres; "Keeping forested areas within the watershed will insure the future water quality of the Lake" (Master Plan). Watershed rules adopted by NHDES (Env-Ws 902.23, October 25, 2021) and the Manchester Water Works Board (February 24, 2022) bar dumping hazardous waste, garbage and similar material within 200 feet of the lake or its tributaries (watershed rules).
Scenic roads. State law lets a town designate scenic roads, after which the town and utilities need planning board consent to cut trees 15 inches or more around in the road work (RSA 231:158). We found no list of designated scenic roads in Manchester, and the Master Plan doesn't mention any.
Digging out roots. New Hampshire's definition of excavation includes "tree and root removal" (RSA 374:48), and notice must go to Dig Safe at least 72 hours ahead, weekends and legal holidays excluded, with the dig area white-marked. A ticket is free through 811 (Dig Safe). Ask the tree company whether your stump job needs one.
Last verified November 2026. Fees, restrictions and deadlines on this page are due for re-checking by April 2027. New England Tree Service is a referral service. We don't cut trees, pull permits or file with the city.
Brush, burning and city woods
Where the wood goes in Manchester
At the curb. The city's curbside yard waste notice sets a hard limit: "No branches or stumps greater than 3 inches in diameter will be accepted." Bundles can be no more than 3 feet long and 2 feet wide, and yard waste goes out by 7:00 a.m. on trash day in 33-gallon barrels of up to 75 pounds carrying a free city Yard Waste sticker, or in paper bags; plastic isn't taken. Stickers are at DPW, 475 Valley Street, or the Drop Off Facility, and questions go to (603) 413-6799 (curbside yard waste notice). The notice doesn't give the year, so check the current schedule with the city.
The Drop Off Facility. At 500 Dunbarton Road, open weekdays 7:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (the scale closes at 2:45) and residents-only on the first and third Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., a $5 annual permit gets you in. Yard waste costs $0.10 a pound, waived for residential permit holders from December through the first curbside collection day, but only compostable material is accepted: "NO BRUSH, LOGS, or STUMPS" (fee sheet, updated July 2026). Between the curb limit and the drop-off rule, trunks, limbs and stumps from a removal have no city outlet, so agree on chipping and haul-away before the job.
Burning brush. In New Hampshire, a written permit from the forest fire warden of the town where you burn is required before kindling a fire, unless the warden or the warden's agent is on hand (RSA 227-L:17). The state allows only untreated wood and brush up to 5 inches in diameter, fires over 2 feet across only from 5 p.m. to 9 a.m. unless it's actually raining, and a 50-foot setback from buildings for fires up to 4 feet (NH fire permits). Manchester Fire Prevention has a Fire Permits page, but we couldn't read its details, so ask the department how it issues permits on a dense city lot before planning to burn.
City woods. The 2009 Master Plan records that Manchester's forested area declined over three decades and sets a goal of balancing built-up and wooded land. It calls the black gum trees of Hackett Hill Preserve "the oldest living creatures in the City," notes the tension between clearing fields and keeping forest in Piscataquog, Livingston, Derryfield, Rock Rimmon and Stark parks, and proposes Piscataquog, Black Brook and Cohas green corridors (Master Plan). The January 2006 parks plan notes that work on the Stark Park Master Plan began with a National Register listing and a tree management strategy (Greening the City).
Power lines
Manchester trees and Eversource lines
The state's community profile lists Eversource as Manchester's electric utility (NHES community profile). Eversource's New Hampshire crews keep limbs 8 feet to the side, 10 feet below and 15 feet above its wires on a four-to-five-year cycle; trimming over your house or driveway beyond that is your contractor's job. Eversource will temporarily take down the pole-to-house wires so that contractor can work safely, may remove limbs rubbing the service wires at no charge, and leaves the cut wood with the owner (Eversource NH tree FAQ). To report an outage, the city's emergency pamphlet says to text OUT to 23129 (city emergency pamphlet). The state Department of Energy warns to stay at least 10 feet from lines and treat them as energized (NH Department of Energy).
FAQ
Manchester tree questions
Will the city pick up the branches after my tree comes down?
Only small material. The city's curbside yard waste notice says branches or stumps over 3 inches in diameter are not accepted, and bundles can be no more than 3 feet long and 2 feet wide. Anything bigger has to be chipped or hauled away.
Can I bring logs to the Dunbarton Road Drop Off Facility?
No. The facility's fee sheet, updated in July 2026, takes compostable yard waste but says "NO BRUSH, LOGS, or STUMPS." Residents need a $5 annual permit, and yard waste is $0.10 a pound outside the free winter window for permit holders.
Do I need a permit to burn brush in Manchester?
State law requires a written permit from the forest fire warden of the town where you burn, unless the warden or the warden's agent is present. We couldn't confirm how Manchester handles permits from the city's site, so check with Manchester Fire Prevention before you light anything, and never burn on city property without the Board of Mayor and Aldermen's written permission.
My yard is near Lake Massabesic. Does that matter?
The watershed rules adopted by NHDES in 2021 and the Manchester Water Works Board in 2022 bar dumping hazardous waste, garbage and similar material within 200 feet of the lake or its tributaries. Keep tree debris well away from the water and haul it off.
What does it cost me to use New England Tree Service?
Nothing. The request and the referral are free; the tree company prices the work.
Nearby