Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Clarksville does not require a permit to remove a tree from your own property, and there is no trunk size that changes that. The city's tree chapter states its own reach: Clarksville has authority "over all trees and shrubs located within street and utility rights-of-way and easements; parks and public places of the city and all others areas owned by the city; and to trees, shrubs and plants located on private property that constitute a hazard or public nuisance." The zoning landscaping chapter adds a matching carve-out — it applies "to all uses, except single-family and two-family dwellings on individual lots." The city's published permit list has no tree permit on it at all.
Size threshold
None applies to removing a private tree. The diameter numbers in Clarksville law do other jobs: 30 inches DBH is the eligibility floor for the voluntary landmark tree register ("a tree must measure at least thirty (30) inches diameter at breast height (DBH), or at least seventy-five (75) percent of the recorded size of the state champion tree of the same species"); 4 inches DBH triggers City Forester review of city-funded construction; 18 inches DBH requires tunneling rather than trenching near a city tree; and 6 and 24 inches appear only in voluntary developer tree-credit surveys.
What's protected in Clarksville
- City public tree — "A tree which the city intends to conserve and maintain in an area owned by the city, including parks, the grounds of city public buildings, golf courses, and other city-owned areas to which the public have free access."
- Street tree — "A tree growing within a public right-of-way along a street, in a median or in a similar area where the public right-of-way borders areas held by private owners." This is the one that catches homeowners.
- Utility easement or right-of-way tree — "A tree that is growing within any utility easement or right-of-way, within the city."
- Landmark tree — "An individual tree or tree group identified as a unique community asset, based on its rarity, size, age, association with an historical or significant event or person, or contribution to scenic enhancement of the city." Opt-in only: "No tree which is the property of a private owner may be designated a landmark tree without the express permission of the owner," and the owner can have it de-listed on written notice.
- Hazard or nuisance trees on private property, which the city may order removed — "A tree with structural defects likely to cause failure of all or part of the tree, which could strike a target within the city limits."
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- There is no fee, because there is no private tree removal permit. The ordinance publishes no fee for the Section 1-1708 tree work permit either, and Clarksville's permit catalog lists no tree permit of any kind.
- Penalties
- Section 1-1711: "Any person, organization or entity who violates any provision of this chapter... upon being found in violation, shall be subject to a civil fine not to exceed the maximum amount allowed by law, for each separate violation. Each day during which any violation of the provisions of this chapter shall occur or continue shall be a separate violation." Cost recovery is expressly limited to city land: anyone who injures or kills "a city public tree, shrub, or other plant located on city-owned property... shall pay for the cost of repair or replacement, or the appraised dollar value," valued under the ISA guide. Appeals go to the city tree board within ten working days.
- Ordinance
- Official Code of the City of Clarksville, Title 1, Chapter 17 — Tree Management, City Forester, and Tree Board, Sections 1-1701 through 1-1715. Adopted as Ordinance No. 32-2009-10 on October 9, 2009, which "repealed and reenacted chapter 17 in its entirety." Code current through Ordinance No. 66-2024-25, enacted June 5, 2025 (Supp. No. 110). Zoning Ordinance Chapter 7 (Landscaping, Buffering and Screening), section 7.2, current through Ordinance No. 81-2024-25, enacted June 5, 2025 (Supp. No. 6).
Worth knowing
- The one thing that does need permission is the right-of-way. Section 1-1705: "No private person, organization, or entity, or city department or utility, shall plant, remove, cut or disturb any tree, or part thereof, on any street, or within any city public park, right-of-way or other city public place, without first obtaining permission from the city forester." That strip between sidewalk and curb is usually city right-of-way even though you mow it.
- Cutting a tree down is exempt from the grading permit, but grubbing the stump may not be. Section 12-304 exempts "tree cuttings at or above ground level, and logging operations leaving the stump, ground cover, and root mat intact," and separately exempts work disturbing "one hundred (100) cubic yards or less of soil." Pulling stumps or clearing over an acre can trip a Street Department grading permit.
- You are required to keep your own trees trimmed back from the street. Section 12-109: "Property owners and tenants are required to keep their trees and shrubbery so trimmed that they do not impede, obstruct, interfere with, or endanger the free flow of traffic in and upon abutting public ways."
- Clarksville has been a Tree City USA community for 35 years and has won the Tree City USA Growth Award 19 times. Neither designation restricts what a homeowner does with a private tree.
- For a tree touching a power line, call CDE Lightband at 931-648-8151 rather than Forestry.
- The old cityofclarksville.com domain now redirects to clarksvilletn.gov, but some city pages still publish legacy addresses — the Tree Board is listed as treeboard@cityofclarksville.com and the City Forester appears under both domains. Use the .gov address.
What we could not confirm
We would rather tell you what we don't know than guess. Call the office below to confirm these before you cut.
- — Whether the legacy @cityofclarksville.com email addresses still deliver.
- — The Clarksville-Montgomery County Regional Planning Commission Subdivision Regulations are a separate document not hosted on Municode and were not reviewed. They govern plats rather than homeowner removals.
- — The Clarksville Storm Water Management Manual, which Section 12-304 says holds additional grading-permit exemptions "as deemed appropriate by the director of streets."
- — Montgomery County rules for unincorporated areas outside the city limits.
- — One typo is the city's, not ours: the Tree Concerns page prints the Street Department number as "931.645.74.64," an eleven-digit string. The Street Department page gives 931-645-7464.
Sources
- City of Clarksville — City Forestry
- City of Clarksville — Tree Concerns
- City of Clarksville — Tree Board
- City of Clarksville — Permitting (full list of city permit types)
- City of Clarksville — Street Department
- Clarksville Code Title 1, Ch. 17 — Tree Management, City Forester, and Tree Board (Municode)
- Clarksville Zoning Ordinance Ch. 7 — Landscaping, Buffering and Screening (Municode)