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

For unincorporated Plumas County, routine tree pruning on private property is largely a matter of wildfire fuel management rather than a standalone trimming permit. California Public Resources Code Section 4291 requires owners in State Responsibility Areas to maintain roofs free of leaves, needles, and other dead vegetative growth and to remove that portion of any tree that extends within 10 feet of the outlet of a chimney or stovepipe. Within the 100-foot defensible space perimeter, CAL FIRE guidance calls for trimming trees regularly so branches are kept a minimum of 10 feet from other trees, removing dead and overhanging branches, and creating vertical and horizontal spacing between shrubs and tree crowns to break up fuel ladders. Plumas County's water efficient landscape ordinance (Title 9, Chapter 2, Article 42) governs the design and maintenance of new and rehabilitated permitted landscapes, but it does not impose a general pruning schedule on existing yard trees. The county does not publish a heritage or street-tree pruning permit scheme of the kind found in larger cities. For trees overhanging a neighbor's property, California common law generally allows a neighbor to trim encroaching branches back to the property line without harming the tree. Utility lines are trimmed by the serving utility under CPUC clearance rules.