Leon County, FL Tree Protection: Heritage & Protected Trees (2026)

Sec. 361 names the county's three official trees: the live oak (Quercus virginiana) as official shade tree, the dogwood (Cornus florida) as official flowering tree, and the longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) as official native tree. Sec. 362(b) then builds the protection thresholds around those designations. The general standard protects any tree at 18 inches DBH or greater, but the official trees get a lower bar: any longleaf pine or live oak of 12 inches DBH or greater and any dogwood of four inches DBH or greater is protected regardless of the general threshold.

Protection also reaches beyond diameter alone: any tree within a canopy road tree protection zone is protected at any size, as is any tree four inches DBH or greater sitting in a development site's lot perimeter zone (except detached single-family lots), any tree in a designated conservation or special development zone, any tree planted to satisfy a replanting or landscaping requirement, and any exceptional specimen tree identified by the County Administrator or designee. None of these protected trees may be removed or damaged without a permit under Sec. 364 and Sec. 206, and Sec. 363 requires physical barriers around the critical protection zone of every protected tree left standing during nearby construction.