Washington County, WI Landscaping Rules: Tree Removal & Heritage Trees (2026)

§ 275-6, Removal of shore cover, regulates cutting of trees, shrubbery and ground cover in the shoreland area to protect scenic beauty, control erosion, reduce nutrient runoff into the water and preserve wildlife habitat. The rule does not apply to removing dead, diseased or dying vegetation, and it works alongside the separate vegetative-buffer requirement in § 275-8.

The core limit is the access and viewing corridor: an owner may clear an area running parallel to the OHWM, extending inland, but the corridor is capped at 10 feet or up to 35% of the shoreline frontage, whichever is greater, and the corridor's total width can never exceed 200 feet even if it runs contiguously. Beyond that inland edge, cutting is allowed using accepted forest management and soil conservation practices that protect water quality. Ground cover in the corridor must be preserved as far as practicable, and where it is removed, it has to be replaced with shrubbery or ground cover that is equally or more effective at retarding runoff and preventing erosion.

An owner who wants to clear more than the standard corridor allows can apply to the Planning and Parks Administrator for a special cutting plan under § 275-6D. The application must include a full plan of the lot with a complete inventory of canopy, shrub-layer and ground-cover vegetation, and the Administrator can only approve it if the plan will not cause undue erosion or loss of scenic beauty and will still screen structures from the water. The Administrator may require a bond to guarantee any replacement planting gets done.