Wicomico County, MD Tree Protection: Protected Tree Species (2026)

Wicomico County's forest conservation law, Ch. 126, applies whenever a building permit, subdivision plat, stormwater plan or grading permit is sought on a parcel of 40,000 square feet or more in unincorporated Wicomico County (§ 126-2). Before the Department of Planning, Zoning and Community Development approves a forest conservation plan for that scale of activity, § 126-11 requires the applicant to identify and protect several categories of priority vegetation, including, at Subsection C, any tree, shrub or plant found to be rare, threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 or Maryland's Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act.

These plants must be left undisturbed unless the applicant proves to the Department's satisfaction that reasonable protective efforts have been exhausted and the development plan genuinely cannot be redesigned around them. The requirement sits alongside separate priority categories for floodplain and stream-buffer vegetation, contiguous forest tracts, and historic or champion trees, so an endangered-species finding is only one of several triggers that can force a redesign of a site plan. A landowner who disagrees with the Department's designation or plan conditions may pursue the chapter's appeals process under § 126-22.

30 per square foot of area found in violation, funds that go into the county's Forest Conservation Fund, plus a separate civil infraction of up to $1,000 per day under the same section. The Department can also issue stop-work orders and revoke an approved plan under § 126-27 if a violator fails to comply with an administrative order.