Maryland Tree Removal Laws: Permits, Exceptions, and Penalties

Maryland tree removal laws work in layers: the state’s Forest Conservation Act sets the baseline, and counties and cities add their own permit rules on top. Whether you need a permit depends on the size of the project, where the tree stands, and which jurisdiction you’re in. Get it wrong and civil penalties can run up to $1,000 per day under state law, with local fines and civil damages stacking from there.

When the State Requires a Permit

The Maryland Forest Conservation Act, administered by the Maryland Forest Service, applies whenever a project disturbs 40,000 square feet or more (roughly one acre) and requires a subdivision, grading, or sediment control permit.¹ If your project crosses that line, you have to file two documents before any clearing starts: a Forest Stand Delineation mapping the existing trees and sensitive areas, and a Forest Conservation Plan showing how you will preserve or replace forest cover.

The Forest Conservation Plan goes to your local forest conservation coordinator, who handles the approval. Mitigation can happen on site, off site, or through payments into the state’s Forest Conservation Fund when on-site or off-site reforestation is not feasible and no mitigation bank credits are available in your county or watershed. Per-square-foot rates are adjusted annually for inflation, and projects outside priority funding areas pay a 20% premium.²

Below the one-acre threshold, or on projects that don’t require a subdivision, grading, or sediment control permit, the FCA doesn’t apply. That does not mean you’re free to cut. Local rules take over.

Local Tree Ordinances

Most Maryland jurisdictions have their own tree rules, and they vary. Checking with your county or municipality before removing any sizable tree is the single most reliable way to avoid trouble.

Montgomery County

The county’s Tree Canopy Law requires developers to plant shade trees during construction to offset environmental impact. If planting on site isn’t possible, the fee in lieu was $470 per tree as of April 2024 and is adjusted every two years on July 1 of each odd-numbered year.³ Separately, an individual tree removal may need a permit if the tree sits in a road right-of-way, a conservation easement, or a historic site, or if the work disturbs more than 5,000 square feet of canopy or soil.⁴

Baltimore City

Baltimore requires a written permit from the Department of Recreation and Parks before anyone removes a tree along a public street. The department has 20 business days to approve, deny, or ask for more information, and it decides whether mitigation is needed. All permitted removals must be done by a licensed tree expert, and the city must give public notice before any street tree comes down.⁵

Chesapeake Bay Critical Area

Property within 1,000 feet of tidal waters or tidal wetlands falls under the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Program, which imposes some of the strictest tree rules in the state. In Anne Arundel County, all vegetation removal within the Critical Area requires an approved Vegetation Management Plan before any cutting, and that includes dead or damaged trees. A common misconception is that small trees under four inches in diameter are exempt. They are not. Trees of any size, along with shrubs and vines, count as protected habitat here.⁶

If your property borders the Chesapeake Bay or its tributaries, assume you need approval for any tree work.

Exceptions Homeowners Can Actually Use

The exceptions to Maryland’s permit rules are narrower than most homeowners assume.

Hazardous trees. If a Maryland licensed tree expert or certified arborist determines a tree is hazardous — meaning it poses an immediate threat to life, health, safety, or property — the hazard can be removed right away. The expert must notify the appropriate agency in writing within 14 days, and only the hazardous portion may come down without a permit. Additional work on the remaining tree still needs proper permits.⁴
Ongoing agricultural operations are exempt from the FCA.¹
Small residential removals unconnected to a larger development project generally don’t need an FCA permit. Local ordinances can still apply, especially if the tree is in a right-of-way, conservation easement, or historic district.
Any land disturbance under 40,000 square feet that doesn’t require a subdivision, grading, or sediment control permit falls outside the FCA. Local rules may still apply.¹

The Critical Area overrides these exceptions. Even dead or hazardous trees require an approved plan before removal if they’re within 1,000 feet of tidal waters.

Who Can Legally Do the Work

Maryland law requires anyone in the business of tree care to hold a Licensed Tree Expert (LTE) credential from the state. An employee working under a licensed expert’s direct supervision doesn’t need their own license, but the business itself must be licensed.⁷

This matters for two reasons. Hiring an unlicensed operator violates state law. And an assessment from an unlicensed person won’t satisfy the hazardous-tree exception, which leaves any permit application that relies on that work open to challenge.

The LTE is separate from the ISA Certified Arborist designation. ISA certification is a national professional credential; the LTE is the Maryland-specific license required to do business in the state. Many licensed tree experts hold both, but the state license is the one that controls legal compliance. Ask to see the Maryland LTE license number before work begins.

Penalties for Illegal Tree Removal

Forest Conservation Act Fines

Anyone who violates the FCA or any regulation, plan, or management agreement tied to it faces a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per violation. Each day the violation continues counts as a separate offense, so an unresolved clearing can generate thousands of dollars of liability within weeks. A court can also order you to stop and to reforest the cleared area.⁸ Money collected for noncompliance goes into the Forest Conservation Fund at 30 cents per square foot of the area found out of compliance.²

Critical Area Enforcement

Unauthorized cutting in the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area triggers a separate track. The state or local jurisdiction can sue to force replanting under a plan prepared by the State Forester, a registered professional forester, or a registered landscape architect. A circuit court can also assess damages equal to the estimated replanting cost, payable to the Department of Natural Resources.⁹ If a local jurisdiction fails to enforce, the state can refer the matter to the Attorney General. These penalties stack on top of FCA fines and local penalties.

Cutting a Neighbor’s Trees

Maryland’s treble damages statute makes cutting trees on someone else’s land exceptionally costly. If you cut, burn, or injure merchantable trees on another person’s property without authorization, the owner can sue for triple the value of the trees destroyed.¹⁰ Mature hardwoods and specimen trees can be worth thousands or tens of thousands of dollars each. That exposure applies even if the cutting was accidental or done by a contractor you hired.

When You Have a Duty to Remove a Tree

The permit rules are only half the picture. If a tree on your property is visibly dead, leaning toward a neighbor’s house, or showing obvious decay, you have a duty to address the hazard. Under negligence principles, an owner who knows or should know about a dangerous tree and does nothing can be held liable when the tree falls and causes damage.

The question courts ask is foreseeability. A healthy tree that comes down in a freak storm is generally treated as an act of nature. A dead tree with a pronounced lean that falls in a moderate storm is not. Visible decay, large dead limbs, root damage from construction, and prior warnings from neighbors or arborists all point toward foreseeability.

The hazardous-tree exception exists for exactly this situation. Have a licensed tree expert inspect the tree, document the hazard in writing, remove the immediate danger, and file the required notification within 14 days. That sequence protects you from both the liability of leaving a dangerous tree standing and the penalties for removing one without authorization.

Boundary Trees and Neighbor Disputes

You have the right to trim branches, vines, or roots from a neighbor’s tree that extend onto your property, but only back to the property line. You cannot enter the neighbor’s property to trim or remove their tree without consent; doing so is trespass and the neighbor can seek damages.¹¹

If a neighbor’s tree looks diseased or structurally compromised, document the condition in writing and notify the neighbor. An owner who knows a tree is hazardous and does nothing can face negligence liability if the tree later causes damage. A written assessment from a licensed tree expert plus written notice to the neighbor builds the paper trail that matters if the dispute ends up in court.

Before any saw touches wood, the practical order of operations in Maryland is the same on almost every property: identify the jurisdiction and any Critical Area status, confirm whether the FCA threshold applies, check the local ordinance for right-of-way and easement rules, and hire a Licensed Tree Expert to do the assessment and the work. Skipping any one of those steps is where the $1,000-per-day exposure starts.

1
Maryland DNR – Maryland.gov. Forest Conservation Act
2
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Natural Resources 5-1610
3
Montgomery County, MD Government. Tree Laws and Programs, DEP
4
Montgomery County Government. Tree Permits, Removal and Concerns, DEP
5
City of Baltimore Law Library. Baltimore Code 53-15 – Tree Removal – Street
6
Anne Arundel County Government. Critical Area
7
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Code Natural Resources 5-417 – License Required to Work as Tree Expert
8
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Natural Resources 5-1612
9
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Code Natural Resources 8-1815.1 – Cutting, Clearing, and Replanting Trees
10
Justia Law. Maryland Code Natural Resources 5-409 – Liability to Aggrieved Parties for Cutting, Burning, or Injuring
11
The Maryland People’s Law Library. Problems with Neighbors FAQ