As a mulch, they're fine. Great, in fact. They compost slowly, but if you add enough greens they'll eventually go.

Buried, they're a nitrogen sink that will last for years, and then reward you by settling and lowering the soil as they decay off. Wood isn't very soil-friendly.

Definitely remove them and put them somewhere else.

OK, That's what I was thinking....i'll just have them pile them up and i'll find a place for them.

Once they begin to decompose, you can't stop them as long as they can get nitrogen from the air. I got rid of a 15 year old tree stump by turning the water onto it for a couple weeks. I used a misting nozzle like you sometimes see at outdoor restaurants. 18 months later it was all gone.

Thanks David, I'l hoping to do that to the stump i have out front which i won't have them grind now due to the renovation i have going. they want $300 to rake and take the grindings with them so to me thats a lot of wasted money! I'll bag them myself and take them to the dump if i don't use as mulch

Removing them yourself is a very big chore. You can't shovel them, you can't use a pitch fork, you can't use a rake. They are chunky, not shredded. The only efficient way is jaws on a piece of heavy equipment. Several years ago I had a big maple cut down and was left with a small mountain of chips from the stump. I wanted them as mulch in another area so I told them to leave the chips. It took me two weeks of all day work basically scooping them into buckets with my hands as best as I could. I wish I had had the tree company take them away. And then I had a big hole to fill. $300 to take chips away from several trees seems a good deal to me. Are they going to fill the hole with dirt? If that $300 includes dirt, by all means that it. If they're not filling the hole, you will have to bring in dirt.

Thanks Becky - the $300 does not include the dirt. Now you have me thinking of what's best to do!

now, where the trees are being taken down, I plan to put a pool and pool decking next year in the summer likely.......with that said someone will be digging them out anyway. Does that change your mind about taking them or leaving them?

Oh, if you're going to cover that area with something, you can do whatever you want. They'd only be a major problem if you were putting a lawn or gardens in.

If you're not trying to grow anything there, you could just leave it as a pile of chips. They will gradually decompose. Then when you want to do something with the area you can deal with them then. If you're not trying to grow anything there, you could just leave stumps. The tree cutters can cut trees fairly close to the ground.

yeah they grind them for $25 a piece if they are removing the trees so i'll likely have them do that after they cut to take away any tripping hazard

Makes sense. Sure, for small areas at the edge of things, you can just toss seed down or plant whatever you like. Even if it's a bit of a problem, it'll clear itself eventually and your annoyance factor is likely to be minimal.

Letting this go around a year will also help weather the wood a bit. It'll host nitrogen-fixing bacteria and carbon-loving fungi, and the carbon-nitrogen balance will slowly stabilize to something more reasonable. Burial after a year is far less problematic than immediate burial.

Or, as you said, just toss down some random off the shelf seed, water if you wish, and see what takes, just to avoid erosion.