Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Tucson does have a Native Plant Preservation ordinance with a protected species list and a 4-inch caliper threshold, but it is a development ordinance and it exempts you by name once your house is built. UDC section 7.7.3.D excludes "Single-family residential development on lots recorded before March 24, 1997, or single-family residential development on a lot within a subdivision that is subject to an approved Native Plant Preservation Plan after the sale and development of a principal structure on that lot." Tucson's own permit-exemption matrix has no tree removal row at all, and the adopted fee schedule contains no tree fee. Two things still need a call: the strip between your sidewalk and the curb, and lots along one of 37 named washes.
Size threshold
From Technical Standards Manual section 5-03.2.0, the Protected Native Plant List that UDC 7.7 operates on. The headings are verbatim: "ALL CACTI" with no size minimum; "TREES OF A MINIMUM SIZE OF FOUR-INCH CALIPER"; "SHRUBS OF A MINIMUM SIZE OF THREE FEET IN HEIGHT"; "SUCCULENTS OF A MINIMUM SIZE OF TWO FEET IN HEIGHT." Caliper is measured "at six inches for single-trunked specimens and 12 inches for multi-trunked specimens above grade level at the base of the tree" (UDC 10.4.5.A.1.b). Read that 4-inch figure as a development-review trigger, not as a homeowner trigger.
What's protected in Tucson
- All cacti, no size minimum: compass barrel, crested or fan-top saguaro, desert night-blooming cereus, fishhook barrel, needle-spined pineapple cactus, Pima pineapple cactus, saguaro.
- Trees at 4-inch caliper or more: Arizona ash, Arizona black walnut, Arizona sycamore, blue palo verde, catclaw acacia, desert elderberry, desert hackberry, desert willow, foothills palo verde, Fremont cottonwood, Goodding willow, ironwood, net leaf hackberry, screwbean mesquite, western soapberry, whitethorn acacia, velvet mesquite.
- Shrubs at 3 feet or taller: catclaw acacia, desert hackberry, desert willow, greythorn, Kearney condalia, whitethorn acacia. Succulents at 2 feet or taller: ocotillo and soaptree yucca.
- Lots adjacent to any of the 37 washes listed in Tucson Code section 29-14 (the WASH ordinance), which uses a 2-inch caliper significant-vegetation threshold rather than the 4-inch native plant threshold. It exempts "A lot or parcel existing on April 25, 1991, to be developed with one (1) single-family residence or single-family residence accessory structure."
- Trees in the pedestrian area of the public right-of-way, and any parcel with an approved site plan, where UDC 10.2.5 makes "removal or modification of improvements (including landscaping, screening, and parking) shown on the plan" a zoning violation.
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Fee
- No tree removal fee exists. The FY27 Planning and Permitting Fee Schedule, adopted by Mayor and Council on May 19, 2026 and effective July 1, 2026, contains no occurrence of the word "tree" and no Native Plant Preservation Plan line item; that review is absorbed into Development Package and grading permit fees.
- Penalties
- UDC 10.4.5 applies to anyone who "intentionally or negligently damages, destroys, or removes from the site any protected native plant, except as authorized by an approved Native Plant Preservation Plan": for each viable saguaro, "a minimum of $200 per foot of main trunk and $200 per foot of each arm with a maximum not to exceed $2,500 per Saguaro"; for each viable protected native tree or shrub, "a minimum of $300 per caliper inch ... with a maximum not to exceed $2,500 per tree or shrub"; for other protected cacti or succulents, "a minimum of $300 per specimen" capped at $2,500. Removing plant material before a Native Plant Preservation Plan is approved draws "a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $2,500." Remedies also include mandatory mitigation, monitoring for up to eight years, revocation of zoning compliance on issued building permits, and a notice recorded with the Pima County Recorder that blocks future development permits until fines are paid.
- Ordinance
- Tucson Unified Development Code section 7.7 — Native Plant Preservation, with the protected plant list at Technical Standards Manual section 5-03.2.0 and penalties at UDC 10.4.5. The UDC was enacted by Ordinance No. 11025, adopted October 9, 2012, effective January 2, 2013, replacing the Land Use Code adopted by Ordinance No. 8509. Section 7.7 does not appear in the UDC's References to Ordinances table, which runs through Ordinance No. 12219 adopted December 16, 2025, so it appears unamended since enactment. Note that Ordinance No. 12219 did amend UDC 7.6, Landscaping and Screening. Code current through June 23, 2026 (version 2026 S-150).
Worth knowing
- The protected list is species-specific. A non-native tree — olive, pine, eucalyptus, citrus, mulberry — is not protected at any size, even on a development site.
- The city's permit-exemption matrix contains one vegetation row and it is about clearing a lot, not taking out a tree: "Land Clearing (Grubbing) — Clearing vegetation or brush from land requires a permit unless it is part of an approved grading or development plan. Permit Required: Yes. Permit Type: Development Package."
- Right-of-way duties run to you: Tucson Code section 25-53 requires you to trim vegetation so it does not obstruct the street, sidewalk or traffic devices, section 25-54 requires trimming within 30 days of a city notice, and section 25-55 requires removal within 30 days of a city notice.
- A very large share of postal addresses reading "Tucson, AZ" are in unincorporated Pima County, which is a separate jurisdiction with its own native plant rules. Confirm you are inside city limits with Map Tucson before relying on any of this.
- If you are outside the homeowner exemption and a protected plant is involved, the state agency is the Arizona Department of Agriculture, Plant Services Division. Its Tucson office is at 400 W. Congress St., Suite 124, (520) 628-6317; the Phoenix scheduling desk is (602) 542-3578 and the department main line is (602) 542-4373.
- Where UDC 7.7 does apply, the plan has to be prepared by a "plant professional" — an ISA-certified arborist, a landscape architect, or a horticulturist, biologist or botanist with at least a bachelor's degree in an appropriate arid environment natural resource field — and no grubbing, grading, construction or salvaging may occur before the plan is approved.
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 a permit is required to remove an existing tree from the public right-of-way. The sources conflict and we are not choosing between them. Tucson Code section 25-52.1(2) requires a written permit to PLANT in the pedestrian area of the right-of-way and states no corresponding removal permit. But the city's Commercial Property Landscaping page says: "Prior to removing any tree, shrub, accent plant or groundcover from the ROW the property owner must call the City to identify who owns the vegetation. Where the City of Tucson has developed the landscape, has an irrigation system and maintains the area, these plants belong to the City and are considered a City asset. Removal of these plants without the City's approval is considered to be destruction of government property." The city's own FAQ says most trees on residential streets belong to the adjacent owner and directs you to call the Landscape Architect at (520) 791-5100. Call before you cut.
- — A gap in the exemption text itself. UDC 7.7.3.D.1 covers lots recorded before March 24, 1997, and lots in a subdivision with an approved Native Plant Preservation Plan after the home is sold and built. A single-family lot recorded after March 24, 1997 that is not in a subdivision with an approved plan is not plainly covered by either prong. In practice such lots almost always went through plan review, but the code does not say so.
- — The number and adoption date of the original 1997 Native Plant Preservation Ordinance. The code repeatedly cites "March 24, 1997" but the ordinance number could not be located.
- — Whether UDC 5.2 (Hillside Development Zone), 5.3 (Scenic Corridor Zone) or 5.7 (Environmental Resource Zone) bind existing single-family lots. Section 7.7.3.C references the first two as separately calculated. The city's riparian summary page describes an ERZ exemption for single-family residences existing before July 3, 1990 but still cites the repealed Land Use Code rather than the current UDC.
- — Whether Historic Preservation Zone or Neighborhood Preservation Zone special district review reaches tree removal.
- — Pima County's tree and native plant rules for unincorporated areas, which matter for a great many "Tucson" addresses.
Sources
- Tucson UDC section 7.7 — Native Plant Preservation
- Tucson UDC section 7.7.3 — applicability and the single-family exemption
- Tucson Technical Standards Manual 5-03.2.0 — Protected Native Plant List
- Tucson UDC 10.4.5 — penalties for violation of native plant preservation standards
- Tucson Code section 25-52.1 — planting within the pedestrian area right-of-way
- Tucson Code section 29-14 — WASH ordinance applicability and the list of 37 washes
- City of Tucson — Planning and Development Services Department
- City of Tucson — Do I Need a Permit? building permit exemptions matrix
- City of Tucson — Whose tree is it anyway? (right-of-way tree ownership)
- A.R.S. 3-904 — Arizona Native Plant Law, private landowner notice and the 10-acre exemption