New Braunfels, TX Tree Protection: Protected Tree Species (2026)

Section 144-1.4 of the zoning code defines "protected tree" as any tree on the city's approved plant list in Appendix A that measures 25 inches or more in trunk circumference, about eight inches in diameter, measured four and one-half feet above grade. Heritage trees are a higher tier within that same definition: a tree qualifies once it reaches 75 inches of circumference (about 24 inches in diameter) or half the state champion circumference the Texas Forest Service records for its species, whichever is smaller. Both tiers trigger the same removal permit under Section 144-5.3-1(c), administered by the planning director.

The species list matters as much as the size threshold. Section 144-5.3-1(c)(2)(ii) waives the removal permit entirely when the tree is one of the species named in Appendix B, the city's "undesirable trees" list. That list runs to 19 species, including Ashe juniper (mountain cedar), honey mesquite, sugarberry/hackberry, box elder, tree of heaven, mimosa, Chinese tallow, Bradford pear and Arizona ash. Because Appendix B trees are exempt regardless of trunk size, a large hackberry can be cut with no application, while a much smaller Texas red oak on the Appendix A list cannot.

Appendix A itself divides protected species into shade, ornamental, evergreen and palm categories, recommending natives such as pecan, cedar elm, Texas ash, live oak and bald cypress. Multi-trunk native trees, three or more stems at least two inches in diameter within ten feet of each other, are also counted toward the protected-tree threshold using a combined-diameter formula in the landscaping credit table. A removal permit is also unnecessary on property zoned or used for agricultural, single-family or two-family purposes, or where the tree is already hazardous through disease or storm damage not caused by the owner.