Cumberland County, ME Tree Protection: Heritage & Protected Trees (2026)

There is no Maine statute creating a binding 'heritage tree' or 'landmark tree' status that overrides private property rights. The Maine Forest Service (within the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry) maintains the Maine Register of Big Trees, a recognition program for the largest known specimen of each native species — but listing on the register is honorary only and does not impose any cutting restriction on the owner. Cumberland County, having no zoning or police-power code (see 30-A MRS §3001), does not designate, inventory, or protect heritage trees countywide. Where heritage-tree protection exists in Cumberland County, it sits in a municipal ordinance: Portland's Land Use Code, for example, addresses landmark trees in connection with site plan review, and some towns include 'specimen tree' protection in subdivision or commercial site-plan ordinances. Outside such municipal frameworks, the only legal constraint on cutting a large or historic tree on private land is the shoreland zoning vegetation rule (38 MRS §439-A) if the tree happens to stand within 250 feet of a protected water body. Trees in cemeteries, parks, and on town commons are protected by the public-property status of the land, not by a heritage-tree statute. Owners considering protecting a notable tree may enroll in the Tree Growth Tax Program (36 MRS §571-§584-A) for working forest land, place a conservation easement under 33 MRS §476-§479-C, or coordinate with the Maine Forest Service Project Canopy program.