My parents have a tall eastern white pine that is fairly close to the house. It gets taller every year, and there is some concern that it will fall over and damage the house or other trees. Storms in our region have been getting worse over the past few years, and every two or three years we get a big one that blows down some large, seemingly healthy, trees in the area. Both trunks are equally large and split relatively close to the ground.
We had an arborist come by, and they said the tree is healthy. Their initial recommendation is to 1) prune the branches and one large limb closest to the house and 2) install a cable to connect the two co-dominant trunks. But they also said that removal is also a reasonable option, and so now we have to decide what to do.
What do you think? I'm of the opinion that nothing has to be done at all if the tree is healthy, but the cable tie seems reasonable. Or should we play it safe and remove the tree? It would be a shame, but it's tall enough to potentially hit the neighbor's house if it does fall.