after our most recent storm we have a lot of downed trees and branches. Can we have them used for wood chips for mulch rather than paying to have them towed to the garbage dump?

Yes, we used to do it all the time.

hi and Welcome too

it might be worth checking out that if you plan to use the chipped trees on your gardens, that perhaps you should be piling it somewhere for up to six months to start breaking down some. I'm not exactly sure what the ideal time frame is, but if you were to use it straight away (fresh), you can risk the chips taking up too much nitrogen from your garden plants, and them showing the depletion by yellowing off.

If you might want to use the chips to build up pathways, or even to start creating some, thats a good option to use it in the first instance. Even if you used that as new base for pathways, you can always go back and add stones on top if/when needed too.

Carole is right. I always used them fresh but also sprinkled Ammonium Sulfate to counter the nitrogen depletion.

Nitrogen depletion isn't really a significant issue when using fresh chips for mulch. It may have a small shallow effect where the mulch meets the soil but it should only affect small plants like seedlings if at all. If you're worried you can spread a nitrogen fertilizer first but for larger established plants it should not be an issue. If you incorporate the chips into the soil then that would be a different matter.

No matter what, keep the chips!

BeR1204 said:after our most recent storm we have a lot of downed trees and branches. Can we have them used for wood chips for mulch rather than paying to have them towed to the garbage dump?

Do you have a wood chipper; is it big enough for the branches you have?

Fresh woody chips will last a couple years on a path- I used some that way.
I also had a great vegetable garden planted into a layer of fresh chips, then the chips covered with black fabric. The chips are all gone now after two summers.