Tucson, AZ Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

d, Mitigation Standards, controls what happens after a protected native plant is damaged, destroyed, or removed during development in Tucson. ), or salvaged material from the same site that isn't already needed to satisfy the minimum preservation percentages. Those minimums matter because they set the baseline before mitigation even applies: 100% of federal endangered species and 'crested' saguaros must be preserved-in-place or salvaged and transplanted on-site; at least 50% of viable saguaros and ironwood trees; and at least 30% of each other genus and species of protected native plant.

5-1. Every viable protected plant that is ultimately removed, damaged, or destroyed during development must then be replaced on-site with an additional number of same-species plants, again set by that table. Credit works in the developer's favor too: preserving a larger specimen in place earns a bigger offset against the mitigation count, the code gives the example that preserving one 12-foot saguaro in place credits three saguaros toward the requirement. A Native Plant Preservation Plan documenting the chosen methodology (Plant Inventory, Plant Appraisal, or Set Aside) must accompany development applications reviewed by Planning and Development Services.