Winter Haven, FL Tree Protection: Heritage & Protected Trees (2026)

Sec. 21-182 defines a heritage oak as any live oak (Quercus virginiana) of thirty-four inches DBH or greater in good health, and states the developer must preserve every tree identified as a heritage oak unless the administrator authorizes its removal. Heritage oaks get the widest construction buffer of any tree class under Sec. 21-185(b): while an ordinary protected tree needs only a ten-foot protection fence and a specimen tree a fifteen-foot fence around the trunk, a heritage oak's protection area must cover the full extent of its dripline, or a minimum of twenty feet from the trunk, whichever distance is less, and the fenced zone must carry six inches of mulch or compost rather than the four inches required for other protected trees.

If a heritage oak must come down as part of an approved tree mitigation/removal plan, Sec. 21-185(g)(2)(c) requires replacement at a two-to-one ratio based on the removed tree's DBH, compared to a one-to-one ratio for an ordinary protected tree and one-and-a-half-to-one for a specimen tree, and the replacement trees must be Florida Grade A stock with at least a three-inch caliper and ten-foot height. No building permit issues until the tree mitigation/removal plan and its Table 21-185A mitigation calculations are approved, and no tree removal permit issues until the City inspects and approves the required protection fencing and signage around the heritage oak.