Madera County, CA Landscaping Rules: Tree Trimming (2026)

For unincorporated Madera County, routine pruning and trimming of trees on your own property is not subject to a stand-alone County tree-trimming permit. The County's vegetation rules instead focus on fire safety and on overgrowth that becomes a nuisance. The most significant trimming obligations come from California state fire law, which applies across Madera's foothill and mountain communities. Under California Public Resources Code Section 4291, a person who owns or maintains a building in, upon, or adjoining a wildland or forest-covered land must maintain defensible space of 100 feet around the structure (not beyond the property line); that includes removing dead and dying wood from trees and shrubs, and the code also requires keeping tree limbs from within ten feet of a chimney or stovepipe outlet and removing dead limbs that overhang a roof. The County's own Weed Abatement program (Madera County Code Ch. 7.26) targets weeds and brush rather than tree canopies, but unmanaged dead vegetation can still be cited as a hazard. Trimming that affects a neighbor's tree, encroaching branches, or trees in a public right-of-way may raise separate civil or encroachment-permit issues, so confirm with County Public Works before working near a road. For trees protected under any project condition or General Plan resource policy, additional limits can apply—check with Madera County Planning before major pruning of native oaks.