North Las Vegas, NV Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

Section 12.15.100 gives the Municipal Forester, the Parks and Recreation Director, or their designee authority to remove a City tree that is dead, diseased, hazardous, or presents an emergency threat to public safety, and also allows removal of a tree causing chronic and persistent damage to curbs, gutters, sidewalks or other hardscape so infrastructure repairs can proceed. The section draws a hard line against removing a healthy tree merely because a neighboring property owner complains about leaves, pine cones, pine needles, fruit or seed debris.

For anyone other than the City wanting to remove or replace a tree standing in or upon a public street or right-of-way, Section 12.15.110 requires prior written permission from the Municipal Forester, Director or designee: unauthorized removal is not an option. That section also makes intentional or negligent damage to a City tree a cost-recovery event: the responsible individual must pay the City's actual costs of removing, replacing or otherwise mitigating the damaged tree. Section 12.15.120 carves out a narrower emergency track: when a City tree is hazardous or dangerous and poses an immediate threat to person or property, the Director, Municipal Forester, or any Police or Fire Department member may authorize its removal on the spot, bypassing the standard permission process.

Any tree removed is subject to the City's No Net Loss of Canopy Coverage policy in Section 12.15.130, which calls for replacing removed trees as close as possible to the original location, ideally within the same ward.