On September 7, 2022, a cottonwood at Corrales Road and Uva Road came down and made the front page. An inspection had found the trunk roughly half hollow. Because the tree stood in a Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District right-of-way, the decision was MRGCD's, and the fire chief ran the saw. Afterward, someone left flowers on the stump.
That is tree work in a village of 8,493 people that, in its own words, "aggressively strives to retain a rural lifestyle": one-acre A-1 lots, no streetlights, a well and septic field on every parcel, acequia banks for trails, and a Tree Preservation Advisory Committee. Before a saw starts, somebody answers a question most towns never ask: whose tree is this, legally? There are three answers, and Roque Tree Service works inside all three.
The Village's trees: Landmark designation
Ordinance 06-01, adopted April 11, 2006, protects only trees formally designated as Landmark Trees by nomination, Tree Preservation Advisory Committee review and a Planning and Zoning vote. Removing or damaging one takes a Village application, and damage is defined broadly: topping, girdling, trenching inside the dripline, paving more than half the dripline and excessive pruning all count, with a fine of up to $500 per tree. A storm-damaged Landmark Tree that police, fire, code enforcement or P&Z deems hazardous can come down without a permit.
An ordinary private tree is not a Landmark Tree, and we found no Village removal permit for one. Designated trees have their own Village rules for who may prune them and how; if your tree carries that designation, tell us before we quote so the right approach is confirmed with the Village first.
Designated trees are likeliest around the pre-1940 adobes of the Village Center along Corrales Road, Old Church Road and Jones Road (7.7% of the housing stock) and the 1940–69 ranchos (another 11.1%). For those crowns the work is crown reduction and deadwood pruning done to standard, never topping, plus a tree health assessment when the question is decline, mistletoe or a trunk that may be hollow.
MRGCD's trees: ditch banks, levees and the Bosque Preserve
Water reaches Corrales through the Corrales Main Canal, the Sandoval Lateral and the Interior and Riverside Drains, and the trees on those banks and levees are in MRGCD's right-of-way. A homeowner cannot simply cut a ditch-bank cottonwood or elm; the district decides, as it did on Uva Road. Riverward, the Corrales Bosque Preserve runs from the Alameda Bridge to Siphon Road with no wood cutting and no plant removal. Tree work there is agency work: MRGCD and the New Mexico Forestry Division closed 100 acres from February 4 to 28, 2026, for Corrales Fuels Reduction Phase 1.
That water is why yard cottonwoods away from the river die from the top down. The wooden Corrales Siphon had ruptured by February 2022, its replacement was still stalled in March 2025, and MRGCD warned that 2026 would run as a run-of-river system. In March 2021 the Tree Committee warned that "Corrales is facing the loss of its cottonwood forest in the Bosque Preserve."
On private parcels bordering the Preserve, our part is land and brush clearing: Siberian elm, Russian olive and salt cedar thickets that act as fuel ladders, and defensible-space thinning on river-side lots.
Your acre: the trees that are yours to decide
The third jurisdiction is you. Most Corrales homes, 60.8%, were built between 1970 and 1999, and the cottonwoods, globe willows, poplars and Siberian elms planted with them now stand over roofs, service drops and adobe walls. That canopy failed on February 2023, when roughly 70 mph wind dropped a double power line on Applewood Road and broke limbs along Meadowlark Road, and again on November 6–7, 2024, when wet snow on still-leafed cottonwoods put limbs on lines throughout Corrales.
The decisions here are yours:
- Mistletoe. Broadleaf mistletoe is spreading north along the Rio Grande; the Village ran a public removal demonstration at La Entrada Park on Arbor Day, April 29, 2022. Removal means cuts well below the swollen attachment, or crown reduction where infestation is heavy.
- Removals. A hollow or leaning cottonwood is a tree removal planned around the parcel: boom truck and chipper set clear of the wellhead, the leach field, the acequia and the adobe wall. The fire station's own adobe wall fell twice in 2022–23 storms.
- Lines. PNM trims its distribution lines on its own cycle and disconnects the service drop so a private crew can prune around it. We contact 811 before any stump grinding.
Coverage runs the length of the village: Village Center, Applewood Hills, Meadowlark and Loma Larga, Skyview Acres at the NM-528/Alameda end nearest Albuquerque, Novo Farm and Ventana Grande, and Corrales del Norte by the siphon. In Corrales West, on the escarpment, wells run 100 to 300 feet to water and wind favors junipers and elms over cottonwoods.
Getting a crew to Corrales
Corrales is about 17 miles north of Albuquerque, roughly half an hour via I-25 and Alameda. Roque Tree Service is licensed (NM license #L1313927408), bonded and insured, 11 years in business, 100% of jobs done by our own crews. We offer 24/7 emergency service and head out within about an hour, depending on distance; if a line is involved, contact PNM first, then call (505) 306-2007. Nearby: Rio Rancho, Los Ranchos, North Valley, Bernalillo, Albuquerque.
Whichever jurisdiction your tree falls under, the estimate is free and in writing. Get Free Estimate or call (505) 306-2007.