Tree Removal in Lufkin, TX

Tree removal in Lufkin, TX: what shapes the job

Tree removal in Lufkin, TX involves more than a saw and a pickup. Height and access set the price, Oncor has rules about branches near its wires, and the city has its own rules for what happens to the wood. The notes below pull together what Angelina County owners usually need to know before a crew shows up, with every figure credited to its source at the bottom of the page.

What the work costs

No one publishes a price list for Lufkin, which sits about 115 miles northeast of Houston. Angi's Houston guide, updated in August 2026, is the closest metro data for tree removal: an average near $800 a tree, with most jobs between $197 and $1,972. Height drives it. In Angi's brackets, a tree under 30 feet runs $150 to $450, one of 30 to 60 feet $450 to $1,200, and anything taller than 80 feet $1,000 to $2,000, with roughly $500 more when a crane has to come out. Pines run $250 to $1,500 in the same guide, and Angi notes that older pines can have a tap root that complicates getting the stump out. See tree work prices for stumps, trimming and clearing.

Pines that die standing

The Texas A&M Forest Service describes three native Ips engraver beetles in East Texas that move into pines weakened by drought, freezes or injury. Its advice after Winter Storm Uri was blunt: cut down pines the beetles have already killed and burn them or get rid of them some other way, so the next generation can't fly out. Signs include small resin "pitch tubes" on the bark. The black turpentine beetle leaves larger tubes, about the size of a walnut or a half-dollar, usually low on the trunk. More on the pine beetle page.

Storm history

Hurricane Rita came through on September 24, 2005. The National Weather Service in Shreveport reported widespread tree and power line damage across Angelina County, about 5 to 6 inches of rain at Lufkin, and two deaths in the county: one person killed by a falling tree and a teenager electrocuted picking up a downed line. TXU Electric Delivery said 90 percent of its customers in the Lufkin and Nacogdoches areas lost power. By the state forest service's count, roughly 4,832 acres of timber in Angelina County alone were damaged, on top of the storm cleanup around damaged homes. After a storm, the storm and emergency page covers what to do first.

Wires, poles and the service drop

The city's newcomer page says Oncor maintains the lines in Lufkin. Oncor's guidance splits the work in two. Branches along the wires between two Oncor poles are Oncor's to trim. The service line from the pole to your meter is the owner's responsibility, and Oncor can do a temporary disconnect so the tree trimming can happen safely, for a fee. Anyone who isn't line-clearance certified should stay at least 10 feet from high-voltage lines. The power line page has the phone numbers.

Stumps and what's buried under them

A stump grinder is powered equipment, and Texas law defines excavating as using powered tools to disturb soil 16 inches deep or more. Past that line, whoever is digging must give the 811 center two days' notice, counted as 48 hours with Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays left out. The Railroad Commission of Texas points out that the call is free. For stump grinding, Angi's national guide, updated October 2026, puts most jobs at $120 to $400. See stump grinding.

Where the wood goes

Inside the city, Solid Waste Services picks up limbs you set out if they're no longer than six feet and no more than 24 inches in diameter, tied in bundles of 40 pounds or less, by work order. Loads that fit in a truck bed are unlimited; a larger pickup is free once a year and $55 after that. The catch for tree jobs: the city says tree services are responsible for removing their own debris, so ask whether haul-off is in the price. Burning is allowed in town only under the fire department's rules, which bar fires within 50 feet of any structure, including fences. Details on the city rules page.

Clearing more than a tree or two

For an overgrown lot, a pasture edge or a fence line, Lawn Love's December 2025 guide lists an average of $3,850 to clear land in Texas, and $330 to $630 an acre for brush. The Lufkin fire department's burn rules add that land clearing requires a permit. See lot and fence-line clearing.

When to schedule it

For a pine that's already dead, sooner is better. The forest service notes that beetles overwinter in infested trees and emerge in spring, and that a beetle-killed tree may still be sold as timber only while the bark hasn't started to slip. For pines knocked down by wind, its post-storm guide says salvage should happen as soon as possible, since ambrosia beetles and wood borers move in first and wood left lying for more than two or three months is likely to be colonized by decay fungi.

Who's allowed to do it

We didn't find a Texas license for tree cutting that we could cite. The state does license pesticide work: anyone applying pesticides to trees for hire needs a Texas Department of Agriculture license. A Texas AgriLife Extension guide written in October 2005, the fall Rita hit, still holds up: compare two or three bids, ask for proof of insurance, and don't hire whoever knocks on the door with a chainsaw, because the homeowner can be held liable if there's an accident.

A railroad town that grew on timber

Lufkin began as a stop on the Houston, East and West Texas Railway and was named for Abraham P. Lufkin, a Galveston cotton merchant and city councilman. It incorporated on October 15, 1890, the same year the Kurth, Henderson and Wiener families founded the Angelina County Lumber Company, and became the county seat after a January 1892 election. The Texas Forestry Museum is here, and so are the headquarters of all four national forests in Texas. The Census Bureau counted 34,143 residents in 2020 and estimates 34,350 for 2025.