Fond du Lac County, WI Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

Fond du Lac County Code Sec. 44-232 establishes a mandatory vegetative buffer zone in shoreland areas: land extending from the ordinary high-water mark, or the edge of any rip rap if it extends further, inland to a minimum of 35 feet is designated a vegetative buffer zone, and removing vegetation there is prohibited except under specific allowances. The county may permit routine maintenance of existing vegetation, and it may allow removal of trees and shrubs to create an access and viewing corridor: that corridor can run at least 35 feet wide for every 100 feet of shoreline frontage, and on a parcel with less than 100 feet of frontage the corridor is capped at 35 percent of the parcel's shoreline width.

25(2)(b) and the Wisconsin Forest Management Guidelines (publication FR-226). Removal is also allowed to manage invasive species, damaged, dying or dead vegetation, or vegetation creating an imminent safety hazard, but any vegetation removed under that allowance must be replanted in the same area as soon as practicable. Larger vegetation-management activities require a permit conditioned on an approved plan and an enforceable restriction to preserve the newly restored area. State law under Wis. 692(1f)(a) bars the county from requiring a property owner to establish or expand a buffer zone on already-developed land, though it can remain an option under the county's shoreland mitigation standards.

This buffer rule applies only within shoreland areas of unincorporated Fond du Lac County; it does not govern tree removal on land outside the shoreland zone.