So this tells me I am in the right place to ask about trees, but I keep seeing stuff about my kitchen. I live in New Brunswick Canada. I am in a sub-division that was built in the 70s. The place was built in an area with a lot of white pine, and white birch. Each lot is about 3/4 of an acre. When I first bought the place 5 years ago, it had 1 red pine, about a 40 footer, 4 white pines from 50 to 60 feet, 10 terribly unhealthy jack pine, a couple of white birch, and 25 over grown poplar trees. The poplar trees lined the driveway, and lost branches in the winter, so they went right away. The jack pine were in various stages of decay, so they went next. The second winter here, I lost a 60 foot white pine to the wind, along with the power line to my house that it fell on. Of the 4 pines, it was the most unhealthy looking. It was among the rotting jack pines, so perhaps they had a common ailment. My other 3 white pines are healthy looking, but I am, or rather my neighbor is worried about the one closest to his property. It is the largest, and fullest tree of the 3, well except for his side. It is just on my side of the line, and the previous owner before me allowed him to trim the branches on his side, because his wife didn't like pine needles. Takes me about a half an hour to step on his lawn, and gather up needles, so I am not sure what the big deal is. Anyway, my insurance tells me that here in NB, as long as the tree is healthy, if it falls and damages his property, it is his problem. But if it is split, or visually in bad shape, and falls, it is my problem. The prevailing wind is always in my direction, so I am not really worried. But....is it possible to top the tree without killing it. Around the 40 foot mark, the main trunk splits into 2 . If I could remove the 20 foot section, the surrounding branches are high enough to cover the cut area looks wise, but it would also reduce the wind drag. I really would hate to lose the tree, because it worked so hard to get where it is today.