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Tree service on Sexton Mountain, Beaverton

Sexton Mountain is the hill in south Beaverton, climbing west from Murray Boulevard to a summit a little under 500 feet. The houses went in during the 1980s and 1990s, and the slopes give many of them a view. Trees here deal with more wind than anywhere else in the city.

Call (503) 386-0199 Request an estimate

Harry Fauver, founder. Updated September 2026.

Where Sexton Mountain sits.

Pick any other dot to open that area.

The trees of Sexton Mountain

ZIPs 97007 and 97008. Inside Beaverton city limits, along Murray Boulevard, Beard Road and Sexton Mountain Drive.

Builders terraced the hillside and left bands of native Douglas-fir between the streets. Thirty-five years on, those firs are tall, the planted maples and cherries are mature, and a good share of the calls we get are about the tension between keeping trees and keeping a view.

Exposure is what sets the hill apart. Storm winds that a valley-floor yard barely notices hit the upper slopes at full strength, and the firs on the edges of those preserved bands take it first. Soil on the cut side of a terraced lot is often shallow, which limits how deeply trees can root.

Slope changes the work too. A tree on a bank above a house can only come down uphill, in pieces, and the brush has to be carried or winched to the chipper. Roots hold steep banks together, so on some lots we recommend leaving a tall stump and its roots in place.

View pruning is the most requested job, and the one most often done badly. Topping firs for a view produces the weak, decaying tops that fail in the next storm. Windowing, thinning selected limbs and raising the crown open a view and leave the tree sound.

What we are usually called for on Sexton Mountain

View pruning without topping

Selective thinning, windowing and crown raising that opens the view and keeps the tree's structure. We say so when a view can't be had without ruining a tree, because that is sometimes the honest answer. Tree trimming and maintenance.

Edge firs after a windstorm

Firs on the windward edge of a grove, leaning after a storm or with soil lifting at the base. A new lean is urgent, so call before the next front arrives. Emergency tree service.

Removals on steep banks

Sectional removals where everything is rigged uphill and nothing can be dropped. Often the stump and roots stay to hold the bank. Tree removal.

Stumps on slopes

Grinding on a slope takes a tracked machine and a careful look at drainage. Where a retaining wall is planned, the stump comes out whole. Stump grinding.

Around Sexton Mountain

Local landmarks, and what the trees around each one tell you about your own.

The summit

The top of the hill, near the city's water reservoir, takes the strongest wind in Beaverton. Trees up here grow shorter and stockier than the same species at the bottom, which is the tree adapting. Problems come when one is suddenly exposed by a neighbor's removal.

Around Sexton Mountain Elementary

The streets around the school are typical of the hill: terraced lots, retaining walls, and firs standing on the bank between one yard and the next. Work here usually involves two owners and sometimes the HOA as well.

Hyland Woods

The natural area on the mountain's north side shows the native forest the subdivisions were carved from: Douglas-fir over bigleaf maple, with cedar in the draws. Yards that border it share its trees' strengths and its root diseases.

Murray Boulevard

Murray is an arterial, so branches over it need 14 feet of clearance. Lots that back onto it often have a row of planted trees along the rear wall, and those were usually a condition of the subdivision.

Sexton Mountain on the map. Open in Google Maps

Which tree rules apply on Sexton Mountain

Sexton Mountain is inside the city. On top of Beaverton's code, most of its subdivisions have covenants of their own.

Inside Beaverton city limits

The tree between the sidewalk and the street is a street tree. You maintain it, and removing it takes a city permit and normally a replacement from the city's approved list. Cutting 20 percent or more of the crown or roots counts as removal. Street trees have to clear 8 feet over the sidewalk, 12 feet over the street and 14 feet over arterials, and topping them is prohibited.

Most ordinary backyard trees need no permit. The exceptions are the trees the development code protects: significant and historic trees, trees in significant groves and natural resource areas, and landscape or mitigation trees that were kept or planted as a condition of the subdivision. If your lot backs onto a greenway, a creek or a preserved grove, treat the trees along that edge as protected until the Planning Division (503-526-2420) says otherwise.

Specific to Sexton Mountain

The bands of fir between streets were typically preserved as a condition of development, and many are owned in common by a homeowners association. Removing or heavily pruning one can need the HOA's approval and the city's. We help you find out which before anyone climbs.

The permit checker gives a first answer in two questions, and the permit guide has the detail. We check every tree's status before a job is booked.

Tree services we offer on Sexton Mountain

How a job goes

You call or send the form and tell us what the tree is doing. Phone photos help.
We walk the site and write the estimate in plain language.
Permits and the 811 utility locate are sorted out before any saw starts.
On the day, drop zones are protected and anything over a structure is roped down.
We rake, blow and haul, then walk the yard with you before we leave.

Nearby areas we also serve

Tree service questions from Sexton Mountain

Can you open up my view without topping the trees?

Usually. Windowing removes selected limbs to frame a view through the tree, and crown raising lifts the lowest branches. Both keep the top intact. Topping is what causes the decay and weak regrowth that fail later.

The tree blocking my view is my neighbor's. What can I do?

Oregon law gives you no right to a view across someone else's land. You can ask, and offer to have the pruning done properly, which many neighbors accept. Cutting or poisoning a neighbor's tree exposes you to double or triple damages.

Is a fir on a steep bank more likely to fall?

Not by itself. Firs that grew on a slope rooted for it. The risk rises when soil is cut away below the tree, when drainage changes, or when a neighboring tree that sheltered it is removed. Those are worth an inspection.

Do I need HOA approval to remove a tree on Sexton Mountain?

Often, yes. Many subdivisions here have covenants covering trees, and common-area trees belong to the association. Check your covenants, and remember that HOA approval doesn't replace a city permit where one is needed.

Do you give free estimates on Sexton Mountain?

Yes. We walk the site, tell you what the tree needs, and put the scope in writing: what is cut, how it comes down, where the wood and chips go and whether the stump is included. Call (503) 386-0199 or send the form on this page.

Request an estimate

Tell us about the tree and we'll call to set up a site walk. For emergency service, skip the form and call.