Indianapolis, IN Tree Protection: Heritage & Protected Trees (2026)

Sec. 744-503.K states the default plainly: 'Removal of any heritage tree is prohibited unless any of the following determinations are made before removal: 1. The Administrator or the city's Urban Forester determines that the tree is dead, significantly and terminally diseased, a threat to public health or safety, or is of an undesirable or nuisance species. 2. The Director of the Department of Public Works determines that the tree interferes with the provision of public services or is a hazard to traffic. 3. The Administrator determines that the location of the tree is preventing development or redevelopment that cannot be physically designed to protect the tree. 4. The site from which the tree is removed is zoned D-A and the tree is harvested as timber or similar forestry product.' Absent one of those four findings made in advance, cutting down a heritage tree is not an option, regardless of who owns the property.

The consequence for losing a heritage tree, whether by qualified removal or by the tree simply dying, runs through Sec. 744-503.M and Table 744-503-3: 'In the event an existing tree that was given credit or a heritage tree is removed or dies within three years of the ILP issuance date, replacement trees shall be planted.' The table scales the obligation to the tree's size: a heritage tree over 36 inches in diameter at breast height requires 15 replacement trees, one from 25.5 to 36 inches requires 11, one from 13 to 25 inches requires 8, down to a single replacement tree for the smallest category. That is roughly 50% more replacement trees than the code demands for an ordinary existing tree of the same size, and Table 744-503-2 mirrors that premium on the credit side, crediting a heritage tree species at up to 15 trees toward landscaping requirements versus 10 for a non-heritage tree of the same size.