Yuba City, CA Tree Protection: Protected Tree Species (2026)

Yuba City Municipal Code does not include a local protected tree species list (no equivalent of Los Angeles City Code §46.00 or Pasadena Ch. 8.52). Protection of native and special-status trees is deferred to state and federal law administered through CEQA review under Yuba City Code Title 8 Chapter 9 (Environmental Review). The relevant frameworks are: (1) California Native Plant Protection Act, Fish and Game Code §§1900-1913, administered by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), which protects state-listed rare, threatened, and endangered plant species; (2) California Endangered Species Act (Fish & Game Code §2050 et seq.); (3) federal Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. §1531 et seq.); and (4) California Code of Regulations Title 14 §670.2 listing protected plant species. The most commonly triggered protection for Yuba City projects is the federally threatened valley elderberry longhorn beetle (Desmocerus californicus dimorphus), whose host plant - blue elderberry (Sambucus mexicana / S. nigra ssp. caerulea) - grows along the Feather River and Yuba River corridors that border the city. Section 7 consultation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is required before disturbing elderberry shrubs with stems 1 inch or larger in diameter within VELB range. CDFW protocols also require pre-construction surveys for native valley oak (Quercus lobata) groves and riparian forest habitat along the rivers, which contain protected plant communities even though the valley oak itself is not state-listed.