South Dakota state law: Parkway and boulevard tree planting

Per SDCL 9-38-1, every municipality has power to establish, improve, maintain, and regulate parks, parkways, and boulevards. SDCL 9-38 further authorizes municipalities to place trees, vegetation, sidewalks, and crossings along parks and thoroughfares under board-of-park / forestry-division authority, and (SDCL 9-38-44) to make annual budget appropriations for forestry purposes within first- and second-class municipalities. The parkway or boulevard strip — the planting area between sidewalk and curb — is typically city-owned right-of-way regardless of who maintains it. Trees planted there are city property; abutting homeowners typically have a duty to keep them maintained (under SDCL Chapter 9-46 — Sidewalk Improvements — and analogous local ordinances) but do NOT have authority to remove or replace them without city forestry permit. South Dakota's Tree City USA participants — including Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Brookings, Aberdeen, Yankton, Pierre, Mitchell, Vermillion, Watertown, Madison, Brandon, Hot Springs, and Spearfish — operate active boulevard-tree programs that publish approved species lists (commonly including disease-resistant elm cultivars, bur oak, hackberry, linden, Kentucky coffeetree, and ginkgo) and prohibit certain species (silver maple, cottonwood, willow, female ginkgo, and ash post-EAB). The SD DANR Community Forestry Program provides advisory technical assistance, model planting standards, and grant funding to participating municipalities. Counties have no analogous parkway authority because there are no county-maintained urban boulevards. State highway right-of-way plantings on SD DOT routes within city limits are governed by SD DOT permit requirements under SDCL Title 31.

Removing, damaging, or topping a boulevard tree without city forestry permit is typically a municipal misdemeanor (Class 2 under SDCL 22-6-2 — up to $500 and/or 30 days) plus restitution measured by ISA Trunk Formula. Failure to maintain a boulevard tree as required by city ordinance may trigger city authority to perform the work and assess the cost as a special assessment under SDCL Chapter 9-43 (special assessments). Planting an unapproved species in the boulevard without permit is typically a violation requiring removal at owner expense. Violation of SD DOT right-of-way planting standards on state-highway corridors within city limits may trigger SD DOT enforcement under SDCL Title 31.