Kenai Peninsula Borough, AK Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

The Kenai Peninsula Borough's anadromous waters habitat protection district under KPB Chapter 21.18 reaches all land within 50 horizontal feet of the salmon streams and lakes listed in the KPB 21.18 Appendix, measured from the ordinary high water mark, including the Kenai River, Kenai River tributaries, and other cataloged waters across the West, North and South Districts of the borough. Inside that 50-foot buffer, KPB 21.18.071(A)(1) requires a staff permit from the Kenai Peninsula Borough planning department or the Kenai River Center before a tree or shrub can be removed, and staff may only issue that permit if the tree or shrub is dead, is a safety hazard to persons or property, or removal is needed to stop disease from spreading to other trees.

Whenever a tree is removed under this provision, KPB 21.18.071(A)(1) requires it to be replaced with two seedlings of a species native to the region, each less than 5.5 feet tall. Routine pruning is treated differently: KPB 21.18.065(A)(2) allows pruning for the health or renewal of vegetation without a permit, but caps it at removing no more than 25 percent of a tree's living crown and forbids jeopardizing its health or natural shape. Outside the 50-foot habitat protection district, the borough has no separate tree-removal permit; it has no general zoning code, so ordinary landscaping and tree-cutting on private land elsewhere in the unincorporated borough is unregulated.