On ordinary residential lots there is no county tree-trimming permit. But within 35 feet of a lake or stream's ordinary high-water mark (OHWM), removal or destruction of buffer vegetation is prohibited except routine maintenance under the county Shoreland Protection Ordinance and NR 115.
For most trimming away from water, the county requires no permit; cities/villages may have street-tree rules. The real county restriction is in the 35-foot shoreland vegetative buffer, where NR 115.05 bars vegetation removal except 'routine maintenance of vegetation.' Pruning that keeps every layer of existing vegetation and disturbs no earth is allowed; clear-cutting or removing trees in the buffer is not. Trimming inside a mapped Environmental Corridor or Isolated Natural Resource Area may also need a county Vegetation Removal permit.
Unauthorized shoreland vegetation removal is a zoning violation under the Shoreland Protection Ordinance; the county may require a restoration/replanting plan plus forfeitures for each day of violation.
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