The cottonwoods that line the Portneuf River through town hold onto their leaves later into fall than anything else around Pocatello, so an early wet snow sometimes catches them still fully leafed out, and the weight of that combination snaps limbs the same trees would shrug off bare. Portneuf Valley Tree Service works the river corridor after those early and late-season storms, clearing downed limbs and snow-loaded branches that come to rest across driveways, fences, and the walking path along the water. Clearing a fallen limb in January means working around a frozen riverbank and snow-covered ground that hides exactly how much wood is actually down until the saw gets close. The crew also takes weighted branches off trees still standing when a heavy, wet system threatens to bring more of the same down on its own, getting ahead of the break rather than cleaning up after it. It is river-corridor work, tied to the particular way the Portneuf's cottonwoods hold or shed a winter's worth of snow.