My maple tree is sick. When we moved here in 2008 there were tons of dead branches, and we pruned many of them out, but were afraid to cut all of them out for fear of misshaping the tree. At this point we can see the dead branches are not going to come back.

The healthy side is only somewhat healthy because we've spent the last two years driving iron chelate 12" deep with rebar every foot or two around the dripline. Before we did this, it was the last tree on the block to leaf out and the leaves would turn yellow in August, as if it was fall. This has gotten better and the healthy side is starting to bud and turn in stride on a more normal schedule.

It's a little frustrating, and we've thought about just taking it completely out, but it's really the only mature tree we have in our yard, and it does provide some shade. Is there a way to make the other side grow back and regain some symmetry? Or is this tree just on its way out? The house was built in 1958 and I'd assume the tree was planted then as well. What if I just removed everything that's dead and just dealt with the asymmetry? Will it grow new branches and eventually fill out?

The soil is alkaline, and the grass grows right up to the trunk. It gets watered with the grass three times per week for a half hour each time. We're in central Utah at about 4800', so we get fairly hot summers and fairly cold winters. Zone 5.

Someone once said this was a Silver Maple, but I don't think it is.

I'll post some other pictures on replies to this post because I can't yet figure out how to post multiple pictures to the same post.

Also, the green on the lower left branch is just the leaves from the neighbor's tree in the background. That branch is actually bare.