Arborists, Tree Removal & Tree Service in Ottawa

Which trees on private property are protected

The Tree Protection By-law took effect on January 1, 2021. Inside the urban area it protects a distinctive tree, which it defines as any tree 30 cm or more in diameter at breast height on a private lot of one hectare or less.

On urban private lots larger than one hectare, and on any urban property subject to a Planning Act application for site plan, plan of subdivision or plan of condominium, the threshold drops to 10 cm.

Every City-owned tree is protected, urban and rural alike, and that includes the one on the grass between your sidewalk and the road even though you mow around it. The by-law's schedules also extend the private-property rules into identified urban expansion and growth areas.

If you are unsure which part applies to your address, the City publishes a decision-tree flowchart, and the by-law's coverage is drawn on geoOttawa under the Forestry heading.

When no permit is needed

1. Pruning. A permit is not required to prune a private tree, and the City asks only that it be done in accordance with good arboricultural practices.
2. A dead or hazardous tree that is an immediate threat to public health and safety. Take photographs before the removal. They are the evidence of the tree's condition and of why the exemption applied.
3. A private ash infested with the emerald ash borer. It can come down without a permit, and what is removed has to be disposed of inside the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's regulated areas.

Normal farm practices, power line maintenance, aggregate extraction under provincial rules and professional surveying are also exempt. Where one of those applies, the City strongly recommends emailing the address, the reason and the timing to urbantree@ottawa.ca before anything is cut.

The seven days before and the seven days after

A granted tree permit has to be posted in a prominent place on the property, visible to the public. A distinctive tree permit goes further: it is posted on the property and on the tree itself for at least seven days before the tree is removed, and the notice on the property stays up for at least seven days afterwards.

That posting period is the part of the by-law most likely to move a start date. A company that can be on site tomorrow cannot legally take a permitted distinctive tree down tomorrow, so ask when the notice went up rather than when the crew is free.

Replacement is part of the permit, not an extra

The by-law sets compensation as well as permission. Outside a development, a removed private tree is replaced at one for one. For infill development the ratio rises with the trunk: two replacement trees for a distinctive tree of 30 to 49 cm, and three for one of 50 cm or more. Where a site cannot hold the required trees, the City may accept financial compensation instead.

Ask for the replacement obligation in writing at the quoting stage. It belongs to the property, not to the contractor, and it is the line most often discovered after the stump is already ground.