Truth or Consequences keeps its feet in the Rio Grande and its back to Turtleback Mountain, with all that blue water at Elephant Butte held just upstream. Winters are mild enough that the work never really stops, and the cottonwoods and desert willows along the river put on growth that has to be answered every year. Pruning opens a crown so the wind passes through it instead of pushing it over. Trimming holds limbs off the low rooflines and the hot-spring courtyards downtown. Removal is done in tight quarters, and when a spring wind comes up the river valley and takes a tree apart, storm damage cleanup carries it off before the week is out.