Blog

What’s to come in 2023, you may ask?

April 4, 2023

For one thing, you are going to see more pictures and video content uploaded to our YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram accounts actually showing what we do and what all goes into providing tree service in the NorthEast Region of Minnesota, Ely and Tower specifically.

We will likely be selling our old equipment and continuing to purchase new, more specialized equipment. We still need a more compact tracked chipper as well as a compact machine that is turf friendly for tight access jobs.

Hopefully we have an abundant amount of work that will enable us to continue to upgrade so we can continue to provide the best option offered in Northeast Minnesota for tree removal and fuels reduction services.

Contact us

Click the link or Google Dutchman Tree Service

Call (218) 929-2502

Email: dutchmantreeservice@gmail.com

We attended the 2022 TCIA Tree Expo in Charlotte, NC!

April 4, 2023

What a trip! The whole team embarked on a journey to Charlotte, NC to attend the largest tree conference in the world. Here, we received hours and hours of valuable training related to specialized rigging and tree removal techniques as well as got to see, upclose, the state of the art equipment being offered in today’s market. We had a blast and hope to return again to stay up to date on info related to our careers.

Adding to the fleet, more specialized equipment!

April 4, 2023

As most of you have noticed, the neighborhood hasn’t rumbled much in the last month. That’s not because we haven’t been busy. It’s because we did away with our obnoxiously loud flatbed pickup and purchased a different one. This 2007 Dodge Ram 3500 is going to be better suited as the “crew truck” as it is equipped with the storage requirements to haul our climbing gear, saws, rigging equipment, as well as pull the trailer with machinery and still be under MNDOT CDL requirements. This truck will give our crew the means to mobilize in 1 unit, making us more efficient and effective overall. Decals will be on soon!

The white dump trailer you see is just a picture off the internet because it is still on the assembly line. We custom ordered it in white, to match our truck, as well as added some unique features that you won’t find on a typical dump trailer, again, to make us more efficient and effective.

Last but not least, we traded in the John Deere 317g tracked skid loader for a new CAT 304.5e mini excavator. I know this probably raises some eyebrows, because the skid steer was so handy. But, we went this route because we’ve found that it leaves a much smaller footprint in our work areas and increases production to a whole another level doing fuels reduction work and large tree removals. We LOVE this machine vs the skid steer and can’t wait to use it on larger projects. You will notice that there will be less track marks and torn up ground where we perform tree work.

Austin & Jessica are having a baby boy!

April 4, 2023

We are excited to announce that Jessica is due in June with their second son Ripley (Rip) Allen Van Scoy. This ought to be interesting!

Mike has grown leaps and bounds as a climber!

April 4, 2023

Mike started with us in August of 2021. He had one full summer of Wildland Firefighter experience, 6 years of US. Army experience, as well as a Natural Resource Technology degree from Vermilion College leading up to his present position. With his work ethic, drive, and natural ability to make critical decisions and problem solve, he has impressed our team by consistently performing the skills and techniques required to remove difficult and hazardous trees safely and skillfully.

He has a knack for this work and it shows. We have added to his arsenal of climbing equipment as well as invested in formal education to help guide him into a primary role of Climber & Crew Leader for Dutchman Tree Service.

We are proud of you Mike! Keep up the good work and climb high!

Team Member Newly Married! Congratulations Justin and Sam Sparks!

April 4, 2023

Justin & Sam also purchased a beautiful home with 40 acres just outside of town this past summer. Between that, getting married, updating the house and doing property improvements, they both have been very busy, but happy. We are so proud of these individuals and what they are doing for each other and the community through their works and actions.

Justin just got ankle surgery from an injury that happened a couple years ago, prior to working for Dutchman. He is healing well and will be assigned to a piece of heavy machinery until he is back to 100%.

Celebrating 2 Years in Business!

April 4, 2023

On April 1st, it will officially be 2 full years in business! We can’t thank our Team, Clients, and Community enough. It has been yet another year of substantial growth. We have added to our fleet of equipment, improved things on the business end, improved the level and quality of our client’s experience, and much more. We couldn’t have come this far and done so well without all the support from everyone mentioned and then some. Keep reading for the nitty gritty details!

Since 4/1/2021

Wild Fire Dangers

April 4, 2023

Is your Property In Danger?

  • Extremely Dense Forest
  • Trees Overhanging Structures
  • Overgrown
  • Dead or Dying Trees
  • Buildup of Fuels on the Forest Floor


If this sounds like your property, than it may be at risk. Wildfire has become an increasingly realistic danger, however, this risk can by mitigated. By removing the extra fuels within the forest and around your property, it dramatically reduces the potential for a fire to start, spread, or burn over your land and structures.

Forest Pests

Balsam firs are under attack. Spruce budworm is a native forest pest that defoliates and kills fir and spruce trees. Every several decades there is an outbreak and they gain a large foothold in the forest. This is currently what’s happening within the Superior National Forest

What does this mean?

After the larvae have defoliated the balsam, it kills the tree and leaves it standing in the forest. This creates ladder fuels for small ground fires to climb up the crispy dead trees and start a raging crown fire.

HOW CAN THIS BE PREVENTED?

In order to mitigate the risk, the fuels need to be cut out and either piled for burning or chipped. Chipping is the superior method for many reasons.

  1. It replaces all the nutrients back into the soil that were consumed by the trees during their growth.
  2. Woodchips hold moisture in the soil far longer than if the soil was bare.
  3. Woodchips provide a natural fire dampener when dispersed evenly throughout the forest. They can dramatically reduce the rate of spread when introduced with fire.

DUTCHMAN TREE SERVICE IS HERE TO HELP

With our reliable service and our specialty equipment, we can provide this fire mitigation service to you and your property. We will remove all hazardous trees and fuels to not only remove the immediate fire risk, but we are also able to create a forest management plan to ensure the long-lasting safety of your property.

Big Steps = Better Service

April 4, 2023

In addition to adding Mike C (Groundsman) to our team, we just purchased our first piece of equipment. She’s our new stick collector! John Deer 317G Tracked Skid Loader. We managed to pull this investment off by #1, having outstanding clients and #2, going through our new John Dealer in Virginia, MN. Northland Lawn & Equipment. We had an outstanding experience with them and look forward to expanding our fleet in the coming years.

Somehow, we managed to scrape together change from the washer and the couch cushions to buy a used grapple attachment for now. We should have a brand new Ryan’s Articulating Grapple coming in late fall to help our production and efficiency on a broader spectrum of jobs.

This machine will not only make our job safer and more efficient, but it should allow us to expand our services. Such as, stump grinding/shredding, snow plowing, and land/lot clearing. What an opportunity to provide a superior service to a wider variety of clients!

We can not wait to send this machine out into the field to better serve our community! Looking forward to the winter season as we have built some momentum in these first five months of business in Ely, MN.

Thanks for checking in!

5 Months In, Making hay while it’s dry

April 4, 2023

Well, we are well into 5 months of business. My son, Rogan, is growing more and more by the day. The business is growing quickly but at a manageable pace. It feels like last month was just May but last I checked the calendar we are about into fall up here in Ely. Holy cow! No complaints though. Life has been good. Busy, but good. As many of you know, we had a severe wind event towards the end of July and that made us that much busier. That opened doors to hire this awesome guy in the picture, Mike Cardinal. Hiring Mike and purchasing our first piece of machinery were two large steps for our new business but were necessary for our company to provide a superior service. We are looking forward to the days to come. Hopefully we won‘t slow down and we can just keep growing and growing. This community needs it! I would go into more details but we should have some more updates coming to better inform our followers on our progress. Thanks for reading! God Bless!