Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Jackson has no tree-preservation ordinance at all. A full sweep of the code turns up no protected-tree category, no diameter threshold and no removal permit — the city's entire tree chapter exists to run a Tree Board over "park trees" and "street trees," both defined as trees on publicly owned land or public right-of-way. The one rule that does reach private property regulates your contractor rather than you, and it exempts you outright when you do the work yourself at your own home.
What's protected in Jackson
- Park trees — "trees, shrubs, bushes and all other woody vegetation located in public parks or on other areas of land owned by the City of Jackson."
- Street trees — "trees, shrubs, bushes and all other woody vegetation located on land which is a public right-of-way of any street, avenue or alley within the City of Jackson."
- That is the whole list. The Tree Board's jurisdiction is limited to trees "located within public rights-of-way in the City of Jackson or in city parks or on any other publicly owned property."
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- No fee, because there is no tree removal permit. If a project involves land disturbance a grading permit is required from the city engineer, and the code sets no amount for it: "Said fee shall be in accordance with a fee schedule established by the environmental advisory/appeals board."
- Penalties
- There is no tree-specific penalty because there is no tree-removal rule to break. Municipal ordinance violations generally are handled under Section 3-102(1): the city court judge may punish "by levying a civil penalty not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00), or the maximum civil penalty allowed under state law, and costs prescribed by ordinance."
- Ordinance
- Jackson Code of Ordinances Title 2, Chapter 3 — City Tree Board, Sections 2-301 through 2-310. Sections 2-301 to 2-309 carry over from the 1995 Code and were substantially amended by Ordinance No. 2019-028, November 2019; the tree-trimmer requirement at Section 2-310 was adopted by Ordinance No. 2004-016, April 2004 and amended by Ordinance No. 2019-028. Related: Section 13-104 (overgrown and dirty lots) and Section 14-502 (grading permits). Code current through Ordinance No. 2025-25, enacted June 3, 2025 (Supp. No. 2). No section governs private tree removal.
Worth knowing
- The rule that actually touches a homeowner is about who you hire. Section 2-310: "Any person or firm that receives payment for providing tree trimming or removal services within the City of Jackson must have a valid City of Jackson business license, liability insurance in the amount of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00) for property damage and personal injury," and must carry the approval letter, license and insurance on site. "All approved tree trimmers will be required to remove all waste from all work sites and transport it to the landfill for disposal."
- You are exempt when you do it yourself. Section 2-310(3), verbatim: "Property owners are excluded from these requirements when trimming trees at their primary residence."
- The city can make you cut, not stop you from cutting. Section 2-309 makes it unlawful "To permit any limb of a tree which is dead, diseased, or otherwise dangerous, because of being broken or decayed, to remain in such tree, thereby endangering the public below," and bars branches hanging lower than ten feet over a street or sidewalk.
- Topping is defined but only for public trees: "the severe cutting back of limbs to stubs larger than three inches (3") in diameter within the tree's crown to such a degree as to remove the normal canopy and disfigure the tree."
- If your project involves grading, that is a separate permit. Section 14-502 requires a grading permit from the city engineer "whenever development will involve any clearing, grading, any form of land disturbance caused by movement of earth or increase in stormwater runoff due to the decrease of soil permeability." Whether felling a single yard tree counts as that is not answered in the code; call Engineering at 731-425-8220 if earth is being moved.
- The ordinance's org chart no longer matches the city's. Section 2-302 names "the superintendent of grounds and landscaping of the Parks and Recreation Department" as the Tree Board's enforcement officer while Section 2-310 directs contractors to "the city forester," and City Groundskeeping is now a department separate from Parks and Recreation. Neither title appears on jacksontn.gov.
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.
- — Jackson's Zoning Ordinance No. 67-2 is not in Municode and not on the city website. Section 14-201 states that it "and any amendments thereto, are published as separate documents and are of record in the office of the city recorder." It could contain landscaping requirements for new development. It does not change the answer for an existing tree on an existing lot, but it is a genuine gap.
- — The subdivision regulations, likewise not locatable online.
- — The grading permit fee amount, which the code delegates to a board-adopted schedule that is not published.
- — Who the "city forester" named in Section 2-310 is, and how a tree company actually obtains the approval letter. No such title appears in the city directory.
- — Jackson Energy Authority line-clearance rules. The utility's published domains did not resolve, so no vegetation policy could be read. Section 2-306 requires JEA approval only for planting street trees on public right-of-way, not for private removal.
- — Madison County rules. Many "Jackson, TN" addresses sit in unincorporated county land. The Madison County Building Department is at 731-988-3960.