Doral, FL Tree Protection: Protected Tree Species (2026)

Section 71-3 sets the specimen tree threshold at 18 inches diameter at breast height (DBH) on any individual trunk, but excludes trees listed in section 24-60(4)(f) of the Miami-Dade County Code, nonnative fruit trees grown for edible fruit such as mangos, avocados, or citrus, nonnative species of the genus ficus, and multitrunk palm-family trees other than the paurotis palm (Acoelorrhaphe wrightii) at a minimum 15-foot height. The same section defines 'vegetation required to be preserved by law' as portions of a site, including specimen trees, natural forest communities, and native vegetation, delineated on site plans, plats, or recorded restrictions, that must be protected from removal or effective destruction and kept undeveloped.

Section 71-243(2) directs that existing specimen trees and native vegetation be preserved 'to the maximum extent possible' in accordance with section 24-50 of the Miami-Dade County Code during landscape plan review, and section 71-109 lets an owner count existing trees the law requires to be preserved toward the property's minimum tree count rather than planting new ones. Removal of a specimen tree or any vegetation in a protected natural forest community requires a county-administered permit under section 71-5, discussed separately, so the protected-species designation and the removal-permit process work together: a tree only needs the permit because sections 71-3 and 71-243 first make it protected.