I have cottonwood trees and they grow big and beautiful. I have one cottonwood at my pond and several vary large regular willow's also around my pond. My pond is bermed so I don't get water from extra acreage flow or from any water resource than rain. My one acre pond drops about three feet in a summer.
A friend of mine was on vacation and the electric company cut some scrub trees by the road in front of his house. He hired a lawyer and they got a 6 thousand dollars settlement out of court.
Two years ago a group of people came around and said they were going to cut my trees at the road of my property. I told them how my friend
was going to sue the electric company and won. I never saw them again. This is in Indiana.