Beautiful North Georgia Mountain View

Mountain land owners often must work for their views. "Because all of our lots are wooded here, the only way you can get the view is to cut trees," Trainor says.

Mountain View Before Trimming

• When buying view land, notice trees whose growth could block your vista. In large developments, builders often trim trees to sell lots, but buyers let them grow back, to the frustration of neighbors who lose views. If your view would depend on trimming trees, make certain those trees are on your land. Don't count on a neighbor to trim his trees for you -- most won't, Trainor says.

  
  Beautiful Mountain View After Trimming

• Learn local ordinances and development rules before you buy. In Fannin County, Ga., where Trainor works, for instance, property owners may not cut more than 50% of the trees (topping and trimming is allowed) bigger than eight inches in diameter and located 2,200 feet above sea level or higher. Contact government planning departments and read developments' covenants, conditions and restrictions. Also, if trees on a city or county right-of-way are likely to grow up and block your view, call the municipality's street department to learn the rules and practices for tree trimming.

• When selling view land, do not -- repeat: do not -- cut down all the trees. "Once you take the trees down, they're gone," says Trainor. Besides causing environmental damage, you'll limit your pool of interested buyers, many of whom love trees and want to preserve them. Keep buyers' options by asking a skilled arborist to open a narrow "window" through the trees, carefully revealing just 5% to 10% of the view while preserving the trees' shape and integrity.

  
  Wonderful Mountain View After Trimming

• Choose careful pruning of selected limbs over removing the tops of trees (Read "Five Reasons to Stop Topping Trees" at PlantAmnesty.org), which can injure or kill them. Using recommendations from friends and trusted professionals, hire an arborist skilled at precision pruning, not a logger skilled in wholesale tree removal.

• Trim trees in spring if you can. Branches are bare and you can see the view you want to achieve.

• When enhancing the view from an existing home, choose which trees or limbs to remove by looking through the most important windows in the house. Artfully expose the view, removing as little as possible. Work carefully and thoughtfully: The embrace of a tree in many cases frames a view, enhancing it.

• Work alongside your arborist to get the result you want. Trainor stands back on the deck or porch and points out which limbs to cut. "We do it very selectively," he says.