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

Tulare County does not impose a county-wide permit just to prune or trim a tree on your own unincorporated parcel. The County's tree-trimming obligations are driven primarily by fire safety. Under Part IV, Chapter 11 (Fire Hazardous Weeds and Rubbish), vegetation that creates a fire hazard is a public nuisance the County Fire Chief can order abated. For most rural parcels inside CAL FIRE State Responsibility Areas, California Public Resources Code section 4291 - a state requirement - directs owners to maintain 100 feet of defensible space, keep trees and shrubs adjacent to or overhanging a building free of dead or dying wood, and remove the portion of any tree extending within 10 feet of a chimney or stovepipe outlet. Separately, any planting, trimming, or removal of a tree within the County road right-of-way requires an encroachment permit from the County Road Commissioner under the County's street and highway regulations. The County's General Plan Environmental Resources Management Element (policies ERM-1.1 through 1.12) directs the County to protect sensitive habitats including oak woodlands and to condition subdivision and building permits in foothill and mountain areas to control vegetation clearing - but those are policy directives applied through discretionary permits, not a stand-alone trimming ordinance for existing homes.