Tree Removal Permits in Eau Claire, WI

Verified against Eau Claire city sources · last checked 2026-08-06

Do you need a permit?

It depends on the tree

Eau Claire is the most heavily regulated of these ten cities and the rules sit in three places. The tree chapter permit covers only trees "growing on a public place," so an ordinary back-yard tree is outside it. But the Land Development Ordinance adopted October 1, 2025 applies tree preservation standards to "all land development and vegetation clearing in the City," exempting existing residential lots of two or fewer dwelling units only if they are not inside the city's Waterways Plan. Separately, no one may prune any oak tree between April 15 and July 31, and Eau Claire is the only city in this file where your tree contractor must pass an exam given by the City Forester to hold a license.

Size threshold

None in the tree chapter. The Land Development Ordinance sets one: Section 17.07.04(C)(1)(b) routes "Removal of ten or fewer high-value trees with a diameter 12 inches DBH or greater from a single property" through a Simplified Approval or Tree Removal Permit, and adds that "No more than one such application may be submitted for the same area of land, regardless of subdivision or land combination, within a three-year period." Anything larger requires Site Plan approval.

What's protected in Eau Claire

Trees on a public place. Section 8.20.030(G) defines public place as "that part of every street, highway, avenue, alley, between the lot line and curb and from property line to property line, and any other land owned or controlled by the city, including tree planting easements." Section 8.20.030(E): "Planting strip" means the public place lying between the curb, or proposed curb, and the lot line."
Every oak tree in the city from April 15 to July 31. Section 8.20.090(C): "Between April 15 and July 31, no person shall: 1. Prune any oak tree unless the pruning is required due to one or more of the following: removal or alteration of the tree due to construction activities; to alleviate a serious hazard; or to repair a wound in the tree caused by a natural or accidental casualty. 2. Prune or wound any oak tree or allow the stump to remain following the removal of a living oak tree without immediately applying to the wound or tree stump a one-time treatment of tree paint."
High-value trees of 12 inches DBH or greater, under LDO Section 17.07.04, on any parcel not exempted.
Protected Areas under LDO Section 17.07.01, which include bluffs, slopes greater than 20 percent, highly susceptible wetlands, "Contiguous woodland areas of 20,000 square feet or more in area," "Contiguous forested areas of 10,000 square feet or more in area," and surface water and wetland buffers.
Two species banned everywhere in the city, public and private. Section 8.20.100(B): "The following species are declared to be public nuisances and are prohibited in any place in the city, both public or private: 1. Acer negundo -- Boxelder (planted after 1957); 2. Poplus deltoides -- Cottonwood (planted after 1957)."
Sixteen genera banned on the planting strip, including all pines, spruces, yews, red cedar, white cedar, firs, hemlock, Douglas fir, willows, mulberry, silver maple, thorned honey locust, black locust, olive, mountain ash, and walnut and butternut.

How to apply in Eau Claire

1
For a boulevard or planting strip tree: the city does the work itself for free, and asks you to request it rather than hire someone. Email CommunityServices@eauclairewi.gov or call 715-839-5039. The city warns "there is typically a wait for services."
2
If you would rather hire it out, the city says "Property owners may have a licensed and insured contractor perform work on boulevard trees with an approved permit from the City Forester." Use the Boulevard Tree Work Permit Application; it must be approved before work starts and is valid for 90 days.
3
Section 8.20.050(G) is the fine print if you do the work yourself: an abutting owner who takes a permit to work on the planting strip "shall assume all responsibility for damage to the public's property and injury or death to the public that may be a result of this work. This liability shall be indicated on the permit."
4
For a private-property removal that is not exempt under LDO Section 17.07.04(B), apply for Simplified Approval or a Tree Removal Permit on a form specified by the City, per Section 17.07.04(C)(1). Larger clearing requires Site Plan approval instead.
5
Before hiring anyone, check the city's published List of Licensed Tree Care Providers in the City of Eau Claire.

Fees, penalties, and the ordinance

Fee: The city does not publish a tree permit fee in the code. Section 8.20.050 sets none, and both the tree trimmer license fee and the new-development boulevard planting charge are set "as stated in City of Eau Claire Fees and Licenses Schedule" rather than in the ordinance. The Boulevard Tree Work Permit application is free to submit as far as the city's page states, and the city offers a 60 dollar rebate per tree, up to two per parcel per year, to residents who plant a boulevard tree themselves.
Penalties: Section 8.20.110: "Any person who, either personally or through an agent or employee, violates any of the provisions of this chapter, shall pay a forfeiture of not less than $50 and not more than $500 and, in default of payment thereof, be imprisoned in the county jail not to exceed 90 days. A separate offense shall be deemed to have been committed on every day on which a violation occurs or continues." Section 5.52.040, for unlicensed tree work: "shall forfeit not less than $20 nor more than $200 and the costs of prosecution for each and every offense," each day a separate offense, with up to 30 days in the county jail in default.
Ordinance: Eau Claire Code of Ordinances chapter 8.20, "the municipal shade tree ordinance of the city," originally Ordinance 3773, Section 1, 1977, amended by Ordinance 4556 (1985), Ordinance 5864 (1998), Ordinance 6572 (2005), Ordinance 6943 (2010), Ordinance 7202 (2016) and Ordinance 7213 (2016). Contractor licensing is chapter 5.52 (Tree Trimmer), from prior code Section 13.17 and amended by Ordinance 3516 (1975), 4503 (1984), 4650 and 4653 (1986), 4967 (1989), 6233 (2001) and 6363 (2002); Ordinance 4967 also repealed the old licensing section at 8.20.080. The tree preservation standards are Land Development Ordinance Section 17.07.04, Tree Preservation and Canopy Enhancement, adopted October 1, 2025. The city states that "Ordinances adopted through July 31, 2024, have been incorporated into the Code" and that all ordinances are current through August 1, 2024, with later ordinances listed separately - so the codified chapter 8.20 text predates the 2025 LDO by more than a year.

Worth knowing

Eau Claire has the strictest tree contractor rule found in any state in this dataset. Section 5.52.010: "No person shall engage in the business of tree trimming, tree removal or tree stump removal within the city without first obtaining a license to do so," and subsection (D): "No license shall be issued to any applicant who has not successfully completed an appropriate examination, oral or written or both, as administered by the city forester." Licenses run July 1 to June 30 and are nontransferable.
The insurance floor is written into the code. Section 5.52.020 requires "amounts of $250,000 for any one person injured or killed and a total of $500,000 for more than one person injured or killed, and $100,000 for the injury or destruction of any property," and bars a licensee from continuing to work if that coverage lapses.
The city maintains boulevard trees itself, for free, including "Disease and insect control, Pruning, Removals and stump grinding, Hazard assessment, Storm-related problems, Inventory."
The duty to cut runs 30 days and then the bill goes on your parcel. Section 8.20.070(D) gives 20 days on first notice, then a certified second notice giving 10 more; if the nuisance is not abated in that thirty-day window the forester may remove it and "The costs of this removal or other abatement may be imposed against the property in accordance with s. 66.0627, Wis. Stats., and the normal and usual special charges procedure of the city."
Emerald ash borer, oak wilt and Dutch elm are all named nuisances. Section 8.20.070(C) declares trees "infected with Dutch elm disease or oak wilt, infested with emerald ash borer, or other disease or pest that threatens a significant portion of the urban forest" a public nuisance. The city has removed over 8,000 public ash trees since EAB reached Wisconsin in 2008 and marks the remainder with an orange dot at the base facing the street.
Sidewalk heave is split. The city: "The City is responsible for the tree and its roots. The property owner is responsible for the sidewalk."
You may plant your own boulevard tree with pre-approval from the City Forester and claim a 60 dollar rebate, capped at two trees per parcel per year and 300 rebates citywide per calendar year.
Appeals go to the administrative review board under chapter 1.06, and filing an appeal stays the order pending decision - for both tree orders under Section 8.20.070(E) and license revocations under Section 5.52.030.

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 oak pruning restriction reaches private property. Section 8.20.090 is headed "Tree maintenance" and its subsection (A) is expressly about "any tree on a public place," but subsection (C) says "no person shall... Prune any oak tree" with no such limit. The two subsections read differently on their face and the city publishes no guidance. Call 715-839-5039 before pruning an oak in that window.
— Whether your lot is inside Eau Claire's Waterways Plan dated July 10, 2012 or otherwise "noted with the Comprehensive Plan." That is the single fact that decides whether LDO Section 17.07.04 exempts your residential lot, and the plan boundary was not retrieved.
— The definition of "high-value tree" in the Land Development Ordinance. The term governs the 12-inch DBH permit trigger and the replacement standard but no definition was located in the retrieved text.
— The tree trimmer license fee and any tree permit fee. Both are set by the separately published City of Eau Claire Fees and Licenses Schedule, which was not retrieved.
— How the codified chapter 8.20, current only through August 1, 2024, interacts with LDO Section 17.07.04 adopted October 1, 2025. The city has not published a reconciliation and the two documents were adopted more than a year apart.
— The content of the arborcultural specifications and the City Forester's Planting Guide, both of which the ordinance makes operative and requires be supplied with each permit, and neither of which is published online.
— The name of the current City Forester.

Sources

Who to contact in Eau Claire

Forestry Division, City of Eau Claire Community Services Department. Section 8.20.030(A) makes the city forester "the qualified designated city official of the city assigned to carry out the enforcement of this chapter under the supervision of the director," and the director is the director of community services. The city describes it as "a small 4-person crew" tending over 30,000 trees.

(715) 839-5039, Monday through Friday 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. CommunityServices@EauClaireWI.Gov Official page

Central Maintenance Facility, 910 Forest Street, Eau Claire, WI 54703

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Size threshold

What's protected in Eau Claire

Trees on a public place. Section 8.20.030(G) defines public place as "that part of every street, highway, avenue, alley, between the lot line and curb and from property line to property line, and any other land owned or controlled by the city, including tree planting easements." Section 8.20.030(E): "Planting strip" means the public place lying between the curb, or proposed curb, and the lot line."

Every oak tree in the city from April 15 to July 31. Section 8.20.090(C): "Between April 15 and July 31, no person shall: 1. Prune any oak tree unless the pruning is required due to one or more of the following: removal or alteration of the tree due to construction activities; to alleviate a serious hazard; or to repair a wound in the tree caused by a natural or accidental casualty. 2. Prune or wound any oak tree or allow the stump to remain following the removal of a living oak tree without immediately applying to the wound or tree stump a one-time treatment of tree paint."

High-value trees of 12 inches DBH or greater, under LDO Section 17.07.04, on any parcel not exempted.

Protected Areas under LDO Section 17.07.01, which include bluffs, slopes greater than 20 percent, highly susceptible wetlands, "Contiguous woodland areas of 20,000 square feet or more in area," "Contiguous forested areas of 10,000 square feet or more in area," and surface water and wetland buffers.

Two species banned everywhere in the city, public and private. Section 8.20.100(B): "The following species are declared to be public nuisances and are prohibited in any place in the city, both public or private: 1. Acer negundo -- Boxelder (planted after 1957); 2. Poplus deltoides -- Cottonwood (planted after 1957)."

Sixteen genera banned on the planting strip, including all pines, spruces, yews, red cedar, white cedar, firs, hemlock, Douglas fir, willows, mulberry, silver maple, thorned honey locust, black locust, olive, mountain ash, and walnut and butternut.

How to apply in Eau Claire

1
For a boulevard or planting strip tree: the city does the work itself for free, and asks you to request it rather than hire someone. Email CommunityServices@eauclairewi.gov or call 715-839-5039. The city warns "there is typically a wait for services."
2
If you would rather hire it out, the city says "Property owners may have a licensed and insured contractor perform work on boulevard trees with an approved permit from the City Forester." Use the Boulevard Tree Work Permit Application; it must be approved before work starts and is valid for 90 days.
3
Section 8.20.050(G) is the fine print if you do the work yourself: an abutting owner who takes a permit to work on the planting strip "shall assume all responsibility for damage to the public's property and injury or death to the public that may be a result of this work. This liability shall be indicated on the permit."
4
For a private-property removal that is not exempt under LDO Section 17.07.04(B), apply for Simplified Approval or a Tree Removal Permit on a form specified by the City, per Section 17.07.04(C)(1). Larger clearing requires Site Plan approval instead.
5
Before hiring anyone, check the city's published List of Licensed Tree Care Providers in the City of Eau Claire.

Fees, penalties, and the ordinance

Fee

The city does not publish a tree permit fee in the code. Section 8.20.050 sets none, and both the tree trimmer license fee and the new-development boulevard planting charge are set "as stated in City of Eau Claire Fees and Licenses Schedule" rather than in the ordinance. The Boulevard Tree Work Permit application is free to submit as far as the city's page states, and the city offers a 60 dollar rebate per tree, up to two per parcel per year, to residents who plant a boulevard tree themselves.

Penalties

Section 8.20.110: "Any person who, either personally or through an agent or employee, violates any of the provisions of this chapter, shall pay a forfeiture of not less than $50 and not more than $500 and, in default of payment thereof, be imprisoned in the county jail not to exceed 90 days. A separate offense shall be deemed to have been committed on every day on which a violation occurs or continues." Section 5.52.040, for unlicensed tree work: "shall forfeit not less than $20 nor more than $200 and the costs of prosecution for each and every offense," each day a separate offense, with up to 30 days in the county jail in default.

Ordinance

Eau Claire Code of Ordinances chapter 8.20, "the municipal shade tree ordinance of the city," originally Ordinance 3773, Section 1, 1977, amended by Ordinance 4556 (1985), Ordinance 5864 (1998), Ordinance 6572 (2005), Ordinance 6943 (2010), Ordinance 7202 (2016) and Ordinance 7213 (2016). Contractor licensing is chapter 5.52 (Tree Trimmer), from prior code Section 13.17 and amended by Ordinance 3516 (1975), 4503 (1984), 4650 and 4653 (1986), 4967 (1989), 6233 (2001) and 6363 (2002); Ordinance 4967 also repealed the old licensing section at 8.20.080. The tree preservation standards are Land Development Ordinance Section 17.07.04, Tree Preservation and Canopy Enhancement, adopted October 1, 2025. The city states that "Ordinances adopted through July 31, 2024, have been incorporated into the Code" and that all ordinances are current through August 1, 2024, with later ordinances listed separately - so the codified chapter 8.20 text predates the 2025 LDO by more than a year.

Worth knowing

Eau Claire has the strictest tree contractor rule found in any state in this dataset. Section 5.52.010: "No person shall engage in the business of tree trimming, tree removal or tree stump removal within the city without first obtaining a license to do so," and subsection (D): "No license shall be issued to any applicant who has not successfully completed an appropriate examination, oral or written or both, as administered by the city forester." Licenses run July 1 to June 30 and are nontransferable.
The insurance floor is written into the code. Section 5.52.020 requires "amounts of $250,000 for any one person injured or killed and a total of $500,000 for more than one person injured or killed, and $100,000 for the injury or destruction of any property," and bars a licensee from continuing to work if that coverage lapses.
The city maintains boulevard trees itself, for free, including "Disease and insect control, Pruning, Removals and stump grinding, Hazard assessment, Storm-related problems, Inventory."
The duty to cut runs 30 days and then the bill goes on your parcel. Section 8.20.070(D) gives 20 days on first notice, then a certified second notice giving 10 more; if the nuisance is not abated in that thirty-day window the forester may remove it and "The costs of this removal or other abatement may be imposed against the property in accordance with s. 66.0627, Wis. Stats., and the normal and usual special charges procedure of the city."
Emerald ash borer, oak wilt and Dutch elm are all named nuisances. Section 8.20.070(C) declares trees "infected with Dutch elm disease or oak wilt, infested with emerald ash borer, or other disease or pest that threatens a significant portion of the urban forest" a public nuisance. The city has removed over 8,000 public ash trees since EAB reached Wisconsin in 2008 and marks the remainder with an orange dot at the base facing the street.
Sidewalk heave is split. The city: "The City is responsible for the tree and its roots. The property owner is responsible for the sidewalk."
You may plant your own boulevard tree with pre-approval from the City Forester and claim a 60 dollar rebate, capped at two trees per parcel per year and 300 rebates citywide per calendar year.
Appeals go to the administrative review board under chapter 1.06, and filing an appeal stays the order pending decision - for both tree orders under Section 8.20.070(E) and license revocations under Section 5.52.030.

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 oak pruning restriction reaches private property. Section 8.20.090 is headed "Tree maintenance" and its subsection (A) is expressly about "any tree on a public place," but subsection (C) says "no person shall... Prune any oak tree" with no such limit. The two subsections read differently on their face and the city publishes no guidance. Call 715-839-5039 before pruning an oak in that window.
— Whether your lot is inside Eau Claire's Waterways Plan dated July 10, 2012 or otherwise "noted with the Comprehensive Plan." That is the single fact that decides whether LDO Section 17.07.04 exempts your residential lot, and the plan boundary was not retrieved.
— The definition of "high-value tree" in the Land Development Ordinance. The term governs the 12-inch DBH permit trigger and the replacement standard but no definition was located in the retrieved text.
— The tree trimmer license fee and any tree permit fee. Both are set by the separately published City of Eau Claire Fees and Licenses Schedule, which was not retrieved.
— How the codified chapter 8.20, current only through August 1, 2024, interacts with LDO Section 17.07.04 adopted October 1, 2025. The city has not published a reconciliation and the two documents were adopted more than a year apart.
— The content of the arborcultural specifications and the City Forester's Planting Guide, both of which the ordinance makes operative and requires be supplied with each permit, and neither of which is published online.
— The name of the current City Forester.