Hi Alex,

Thanks for reaching out to Ask Extension with questions about your tree and for sending great pictures!

It appears that you have an Elm tree. I'm thinking you probably have one of the newer varieties on the market like an Accolade Elm or a Triumph Elm. There are several different species of Elms now that are resistant to Dutch Elm disease and the elm leaf miners and beetles.

Here is a copy of the Front Range recommended tree list to give you information about the Elms for our area: https://planttalk.colostate.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-Front-Range-Tree-List.pdf

You should be fine to remove the dead branch in this tree. Removing dead wood can be done at any time of the year. Otherwise, late winter or early spring are the best times to prune your tree. 

Also, Elms have a decurrent (open and rounded) structure to them, so they don't really have a central "leader" like excurrent trees do. Make sure to make proper pruning cuts when pruning your tree and removing the dead branch. Here is more information about proper pruning:

https://cmg.extension.colostate.edu/Gardennotes/612.pdf

https://cmg.extension.colostate.edu/Gardennotes/613.pdf

 https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/FNR/FNR-563-W.PDF

https://cmg.extension.colostate.edu/Gardennotes/615.pdf

I hope this helps!

Dawn