Dearborn Heights, MI Tree Protection: Protected Tree Species (2026)

Sec. 33-30(h) creates a landmark-tree category on top of the general tree-permit rule. Any tree in the city, of any species, that measures twenty-four inches DBH or greater automatically qualifies as a landmark tree. The section also lists specific species that count as landmark trees at a smaller, species-specific diameter: an American chestnut or flowering dogwood at just eight inches DBH; black alder, crabapple cultivar, larch/tamarack, or eastern hemlock at twelve inches; sassafras at fifteen; oak at sixteen; ash, American beech, birch, buckeye, Douglas fir, ginkgo, hickory, horse chestnut, Kentucky coffeetree, London planetree/sycamore, maple, pine, spruce, tuliptree, and choke cherry at eighteen inches; and black and white walnut at twenty inches.

Because landmark status triggers under Sec. 33-30's permit process, removing a listed species once it reaches its threshold diameter, or any tree at all once it reaches twenty-four inches DBH, requires the same tree permit, survey, and department review as any other regulated tree, but the replacement obligation is heavier: mitigation for a removed landmark tree is set at 125 percent of its DBH rather than the standard 100 percent that applies to ordinary protected trees. The list is administered by the department of public works, which also has authority to order the removal of a landmark or any other public tree found unsafe or diseased.