On Konocti’s north slope
Riviera West is a planned subdivision laid out in 1969 on the northern slope of Mount Konocti, above the shore of Clear Lake, at around 1,700 feet. Soda Bay Road ties it to Riviera Heights, Clear Lake Riviera and Buckingham Park. The ground is volcanic, much of it pyroclastic soil from Konocti, and almost every lot is on a slope.
Views, slopes and steep driveways
People build here for the view of the lake, and over the years the trees below the house grow into it. You do not always have to take a tree down to get the view back. Thinning a crown, or raising it by taking the lower limbs, opens a window through a tree that stays healthy. That is careful tree trimming, done from the lift where a ladder would be unsafe.
When a tree does have to go on a hillside lot, gravity decides where the pieces want to land: downhill, toward the next house. So the crew rigs and lowers instead of dropping, and plans how to get the wood back up a steep driveway. Our tracked spider lift is made for tight, hard to reach spots like these. See tree removal.
Brush below the house
Fire runs uphill fast, and on a Konocti lot the brush and dead wood below your deck are what it would climb. Defensible space work here means cutting brush back, limbing trees up off the ground, taking out the dead ones and chipping all of it. Empty lots next door can be cleared with the excavator. See land clearing.
A Konocti hillside also sheds water hard in a wet winter. If a tree comes out above a driveway or a retaining wall, ask about the stump: roots left in the ground can help hold a bank, while grinding makes sense on flat ground you want to use.
What R2 Does in Riviera West
- Tree Removal
- Tree Trimming
- Storm and Emergency Work
- Fire Safety Clearing
- Land Clearing and Grading
- Log and Debris Removal
- Milling and Custom Builds
- Wood Mulch and Compost
Nearby: Soda Bay, Kelseyville, Clearlake.