Mosinee, WI Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

Section 86-119 of the Mosinee Code of Ordinances covers removal of dangerous, obstructive, and infected trees. Any tree, alive or dead, that the city forester finds to be infected, hazardous, or a nuisance so as to endanger the public or other trees, or injurious to sewers, sidewalks, or other public improvements, whether it stands on public or private property, must be removed, trimmed, or treated by the adjacent property owner. The forester serves written notice on the owner, either personally or by posting it on the affected tree, specifying a compliance window of not less than 24 hours nor more than 14 days, set according to how serious the condition or danger is.

If the owner fails to act within that window, the forester has the tree removed, treated, or trimmed at city expense and reports the cost to the administrator, who enters it as a special charge against the property, meaning it can ride on the tax bill rather than require a separate collection action. Subsection (b) also governs the mechanics of removal in public and terrace areas: the stump must be grubbed out or ground to at least nine inches below grade measured from the normal sidewalk grade, all wood and debris must be cleared from the street before the end of each working day, and any resulting hole must be filled to grade with topsoil as soon as practicable.

This section works alongside § 86-114, which separately declares female cottonwood and seed-bearing box elder trees a nuisance subject to forced removal, and § 86-88, the cost-assessment procedure the code cross-references for oak wilt and Dutch Elm removal work performed by the forester.