Fort Worth, TX Invasive Plant Rules: Tree-of-Heaven Removal (2026)

302, Urban Forestry, of Fort Worth's Zoning Ordinance (Appendix A to the City Code) sorts trees into two lists in subsection (n). Table B lists protected species that earn preservation credit and trigger a removal permit once they reach significant size. Table A, the unprotected list, names Ash, Bradford pear, Chinaberry, Chinese Tallow, Cottonwood, Ligustrum, Mesquite, Mimosa, Siberian elm, Silver maple, Willow, and Tree of Heaven, plus a catch-all footnote sweeping in any species on the USDA Forest Service's Normative Invasive Plants of Southern Forests list.

Because Tree of Heaven sits on the unprotected roster, it gets none of the benefits or restrictions attached to Table B species: subsection (g)(5) exempts it from the 24-inch significant-tree removal permit, and subsection (h)(3)(b) confirms trees other than those on Table B do not count toward the city's required canopy coverage unless the urban forestry administrator approves them case by case. That does not exempt the tree from every rule on the property. Subsection (d) still requires an urban forestry permit for removal of any tree six inches or greater in diameter when the removal is tied to covered development, such as new construction, a building permit, clearing, or subdivision of land over an acre.

A single one- or two-family lot of one acre or less is exempt from urban forestry requirements entirely under subsection (e). Enforcement runs through the urban forestry administrator and code compliance officers under subsection (c).