The keynote speaker at the Inland Tree Conference is “just planning to tell stories” about Washington State tree law.

Consulting arborist James Komen is a board-certified Master Arborist and a California attorney.

The Spokane Conservation District hosts the annual Inland Tree Conference Jan. 9-10 in Spokane Valley, Wash.

“I began as an arborist, but I became an attorney because I wanted to provide helpful information about tree law to the arboricultural industry,” Komen told the Capital Press.

Komen researches tree law across the United States. He’s identified more than 3,000 written opinions that discuss trees in some form, 119 of which are from Washington, 41 from Oregon, 37 from Idaho; 174 from California and 281 from New York.

“It’s fascinating to me how trees touch so many areas of the law,” Komen said. “Sure, there’s cases about trees that fall on houses, cars, and people; there’s cases about people wrongfully cutting or burning trees; and there’s cases about people tripping over tree roots or lifted sidewalks. But there are also issues like land use regulation, constitutional takings, criminal procedure, and even marital property.”

He listed several examples:

• A Florida case that concluded the 4th Amendment required the Florida Department of Agriculture to obtain a warrant before it could enter residential property and destroy infected citrus trees.

• A Nebraska case that held that a city could be liable for planting trees at the bottom of a hill that a child collided with while sledding.

• A Louisiana case that held that a wife was not improperly disposing of community property when she permitted the utility company to prune her trees without her husband’s consent.

“Just when I think I’ve read it all, I keep finding novel stories in new cases,” Komen said.

Washington cases

For the conference, Komen has prepared a selection of case illustrations from Washington. His keynote session will include cases on boundary trees, nuisance and tree failure. A second breakout session focuses on tree valuation.

One topic regards trees near and on boundary lines. In a 2016 case, the Washington Court of Appeals held that a landowner has an absolute right to cut encroaching roots of a neighbor’s tree to the property line — even if it kills the tree.

But then in a 2017 case, the court held that a neighbor was liable for pruning a co-owned tree to the property line because he knew that such pruning would kill the tree.

“In a footnote, the (2017 court case) court identified the resulting anomaly in Washington State: a landowner has more rights to cut a tree when he doesn’t own it than when he co-owns it,” Komen said. “I suspect that we’ll see more development of this law in the future.”

Regardless of what the law actually requires, Komen said he always recommend that neighbors take the path of diplomacy.

“It’s better to work things out amicably before harm is done rather than risk irreparable harm,” he said.

Komen won’t be providing legal advice for the future.

“But by sharing these stories from case law, hopefully I’ll help attendees spot situations or circumstances when they should be careful or may want to seek the advice of a qualified legal professional,” he said.

Fire outlook

The two-day conference is designed to train foresters, forest landowners and arborists. It offers continuing education credits for certified arborists, said Garth Davis, forester for the conservation district.

About 200 people are expected to attend. Cost is $300.

Topics include forestry, insects and disease, and fire management, with basic and advanced arboriculture tracks. 

The second day includes an overview of the district’s Firewise program, helping people prepare home sites to survive a wildfire.

“It’s hard to say” what the fire risk is for 2025, Davis said. “It’s been such a crazy winter … I feel like we got a little bit of a reprieve last summer compared to the previous almost 10 summers. I don’t think it’s going away though.”