Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Evansville's permit is for public trees. The city's own Arboricultural Specifications Manual says a permit is needed "before any person, either for himself or another, prunes, removes, or destroys any public tree," and defines a public tree as one on a street, sidewalk, park or other government-owned property. No permit exists for a tree in your yard and there is no diameter threshold. The rule that actually binds an Evansville homeowner runs the other way: anyone who does tree work for hire inside the city, public or private, must hold a city tree pruner's license.
What's protected in Evansville
- Public trees — "A tree located on a street, walkway, sidewalk, park or other property owned by the City of Evansville or other governmental agency," excluding undedicated subdivision streets and utility-easement-only parcels
- Trees in city cemeteries, handled separately under EMC 8.35.120
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Ordinance
- Evansville Municipal Code Title 2, Chapter 2.90 — Tree Advisory Board, Sections 2.90.010 through 2.90.150, formally the "Ordinance of the City of Evansville, Indiana Concerning Trees," effective May 1, 2001. Public property tree work is at 2.90.070, permits at 2.90.090, the pruner's license at 2.90.100.
Worth knowing
- The licensing rule is the one to remember: "For a person/business to prune or remove trees for hire within the city of Evansville, whether on public or private property, they must have a license. If the company does not have a license it means they do not have the appropriate insurance."
- That license requires at least $100,000 in commercial general liability insurance, workers' compensation or a no-employee waiver, and attendance at a free four-hour Ordinance Compliance Seminar every three years unless the applicant is a current ISA Certified Arborist. The city publishes a live Licensed Tree Pruner's List — check your contractor against it.
- The City Arborist has "jurisdiction, authority, control, supervision, and direction over all trees planted or growing in or upon public property." That sentence is the whole scope.
- Evansville will send a Certified Arborist to look at your tree for free: "Call or email the department if you would like a Certified Arborist to assess your tree AND your property is in Evansville." Emerald ash borer is active and spreading in the city.
- Topping is barred outright on public trees. On a private tree the city only advises against it, and suggests you write "do not top" into the contract with your tree service.
- Zoning imposes planting duties, not removal restrictions. Both the city ordinance (EMC Title 18) and the Evansville-Vanderburgh County ordinance (Title 17) address parking lot island trees and landscape buffers for new development. City Title 18 has no landscaping or tree-preservation chapter at all, and Improvement Location Permits from the Area Plan Commission cover buildings, additions, pools and signage — not tree removal.
- The Area Plan Commission is at (812) 435-5226 if your question is about a development site rather than an existing home.
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.
- — The verbatim codified text of EMC 2.90.090 (Permits), 2.90.010 (Definitions), 2.90.080 (Injury to trees) and 2.90.130 (enforcement). Evansville publishes its code through Code Publishing, which sits behind a Cloudflare challenge that blocked every automated route we tried, and that chapter has never been captured by the Wayback Machine. The quotes above come from the city's own Arboricultural Specifications Manual, which the Tree Advisory Board and Department of Urban Forestry promulgated under this ordinance and host on evansvillegov.org.
- — Whether Chapter 2.90 has been amended since 2015. The live Urban Forestry pages still describe public-tree permits only, which suggests the scope is unchanged, but we could not read the current codified text to confirm.
- — Any fee, for either the public tree permit or the tree pruner's license.
- — Penalties for removing a public tree without a permit. Section 2.90.130 exists but its text was unreachable.
- — The application form, portal or processing time for a public tree permit. The manual says only that it is obtained from the Tree Advisory Board through the City Arborist's office.