Santa Fe, NM Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

11(E)(2) SFCC 1987 requires a construction permit for grading whenever a project involves work within an arroyo or drainageway that could change flow characteristics, including earthwork, drainage or erosion-control construction, removal of significant trees, or modifications to an arroyo or drainageway bank or bottom, on top of whatever state or federal permits also apply. The same subsection separately requires a grading permit for any of four triggers standing alone: removing more than twenty-five percent of the significant trees or grass coverage on a site, or clearing and grading more than five thousand square feet, along with driveway/road grading and paving and utility trenching for commercial and public projects.

2(D)(7)(c) requires that, as a best-management practice, all significant trees and other vegetation meant to stay undisturbed be fenced off before any heavy machinery comes on site, with fencing kept five feet outside each tree's dripline for root-zone protection. 11(E)(3) exempts a narrower set of activities from the permit, including removing streambed vegetation that doesn't alter channel shape, well excavation and archaeologist-directed exploratory digs, but only if mature landscaping and natural slopes of thirty percent or greater aren't disturbed. 2(F)(1)(a)(ix).