Loudoun County, VA Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

04 creates the Mountainside Overlay District (MOD) to regulate development on Loudoun's mountainsides and protect tree cover and native vegetation across areas rated Somewhat Sensitive, Sensitive, and Highly Sensitive. 04-4 requires a grading permit for any land-disturbing activity in the MOD and bars any Tree Cover clearing on existing slopes greater than 25%, including for roads and driveways, unless no alternative exists. 04-5, Reference 5 requires existing vegetation to be preserved to the maximum extent possible and mandates submission of a Tree Cover Inventory, a Tree Conservation and Landscape Plan, and an Invasive Species Management Plan, all prepared to the standards of the Facilities Standards Manual (FSM).

The same table's Reference 3 requires that a minimum of 30% of existing forested area be retained with Tree Canopy Coverage demonstrated on site, and Reference 6 and 7 require identifying and avoiding disturbance to Virginia Natural Heritage Resources and Virginia Wildlife Action Plan habitat, verified respectively by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources. These tree-conservation submittals apply on top of, not instead of, the MOD's slope-based clearing limits: in Highly Sensitive forested areas, clearing is capped at 15% even where selective clearing is needed to locate a permitted use.

01 if the applicant shows no feasible alternative exists outside the MOD and the public purpose of the standard is still met to an equivalent degree.