Rocklin, CA Tree Protection: Protected Tree Species (2026)

Rocklin Municipal Code Chapter 17.77, the Rocklin Oak Tree Preservation Ordinance, is built around a single protected species category rather than a general tree-protection scheme. Section 17.77.010 states the intent behind singling out oaks: the city council finds that oak woodlands constitute a valuable natural resource that provides wildlife habitat, contributes to the beauty and varied scenery of the city, provides shade in parks and developed areas, and enriches soils while protecting watersheds and streams from erosion, and that this resource has declined under pressure from range forage improvement, flood control, fire suppression, and urbanization.

Section 17.77.020.D turns that finding into an operative definition: an oak tree or tree means an oak with a trunk diameter at breast height of six inches or more that belongs to a species the city council has identified by resolution, in the oak tree preservation guidelines, as native to the Rocklin area, so the ordinance does not reach non-oak species or ornamental oak varieties outside that resolution list. The chapter implements this protection through a comprehensive design review process for new development, incentives for preserving oaks, and feasible alternatives to removal, all in furtherance of Open Space Conservation and Recreation Element Policies 1 and 4 of the Rocklin General Plan.

Because the protection turns on TDBH and species identification rather than tree age or location, a six-inch native oak sapling on an undeveloped lot receives the same baseline protection as a mature specimen, though mitigation ratios and heritage status still scale with trunk size under the sections that follow.