Issaquah, WA Tree Protection: Heritage & Protected Trees (2026)

Section 18.812.120 of the Issaquah Land Use Code sets heritage trees apart as their own tier of protection inside Chapter 18.812. Subsection A makes the Park Board responsible for establishing a process to designate a tree as a heritage tree because its age, size, ecological value, or historical association is of special importance to the City. The section itself prints no nomination form, size threshold, or fee; it hands the designation process to the Park Board. What it does print is a transparency duty: the heritage tree program must include publicly available tracking, including removal, of all heritage trees within the City.

Subsection B is the operative ban. Removal of a heritage tree is prohibited, regardless of size, except as provided for in IMC 18.812.050, Tree removal. That cross-reference routes every request through the tree permit section, which opens with the rule that a tree permit is required for all actions under the chapter unless 18.812.030 explicitly exempts them, and which lists approval criteria including nuisance trees, dying or diseased trees backed by written recommendations from a qualified professional arborist, and removal to mitigate wildfire risk based on a Wildfire Risk Assessment. That section also contains an emergency removal subsection requiring a tree permit application to the Department within three business days following the unpermitted action, and keeps the stump available for City inspection.

The ban reaches beyond felling. Section 18.812.020 applies the chapter to all existing development, redevelopment, new development, and vacant or undeveloped lands within the City, and says no person may remove, excessively prune, or top any protected, nonprotected, significant tree, landmark tree, or heritage tree except as provided by the chapter. The purpose statement in 18.812.010(B)(1) lists heritage trees with significant trees, landmark trees, and trees in critical areas as the trees whose removal the chapter seeks to avoid or limit, except where they are deemed hazardous or a nuisance. Permit conditions under 18.812.150 grant the City a right of entry for inspection.