PIERCE
LAND
CLEARING
Usually not on your own rural land, and almost always for something specific inside a city or near water. Here is the honest map of who regulates what, without the invented fine amounts and made-up setback distances that fill the rest of the internet.
Texas has no statewide permit for clearing brush and trees on private land, and agricultural clearing on rural property is exempt from most regulation. The rules that do exist come from four places: city tree ordinances inside city limits, county floodplain permits for grading and fill near water, state stormwater and aquifer rules on construction sites, and federal rules for protected species and waters. If your tract is outside city limits, out of the floodplain, and you are clearing brush rather than building, you are generally free to clear it. Everything else is a question worth asking before the machine arrives.
We are a land clearing company, not a law firm, and we do not pull permits for customers. What we can do is tell you, from clearing tracts across sixty Texas counties, which of the rules below your property is likely to trip, and point you to the office that answers it. That is what this page is for.
This is the one that catches the most people. Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and most of their larger suburbs have tree preservation ordinances that protect hardwoods above a set trunk diameter inside the city limits and often the extraterritorial jurisdiction. Removing a protected tree needs a permit or a mitigation plan, and the thresholds, species lists and fees are different in every city. Brush, cedar, mesquite, invasive species and dead wood are almost never protected, which is most of what a clearing job removes. Some cities, Austin and New Braunfels among them, also have heritage tree rules with tighter protection for the biggest oaks and pecans. The city’s planning, development services or urban forestry office is the call to make. Outside city limits and the ETJ, there is usually no tree ordinance at all.
Every Texas county that participates in the national flood insurance program has a floodplain administrator, and any grading, fill, or structure in a mapped floodplain needs a floodplain development permit from that office. Mulching brush at grade, without moving dirt, generally does not. Building a pad, cutting a road, installing a culvert or filling a low spot in mapped floodplain does. Check the FEMA flood map for your tract before planning any dirt work near a creek or river, and call the county if the line runs through your property.
If the clearing is part of construction that will disturb an acre or more, the state’s stormwater rules apply to the site, which means erosion controls and a stormwater pollution prevention plan before the ground is opened. That is the engineer’s and the owner’s scope, but it changes how the clearing phase is sequenced, which is covered in our land clearing for construction guide. Over the Edwards Aquifer recharge and contributing zones, which cover parts of Travis, Hays, Williamson, Comal, Bexar and neighboring counties, construction projects also need an approved aquifer protection plan from the state before work starts. Clearing brush on ranch land in those counties does not trigger it; building on it does.
Two federal rules matter for Texas clearing. Mature Ashe juniper mixed with oaks in the western Hill Country is nesting habitat for the golden-cheeked warbler, a protected species, and clearing mature mixed canopy in that range can fall under federal wildlife rules; young regrowth cedar in a pasture does not. And dredging, filling or building a crossing in a creek that connects to a river system can fall under the Army Corps of Engineers as waters of the United States. Both are real, both are narrow, and both are worth a question before cutting old mixed woodland or working in a channel. Our cedar clearing guide and the crossings and culverts post cover each in more detail.
County judges issue burn bans, and in a dry year most Texas counties are under one for a good part of it, which is a reason mulching beats burning even where burning is otherwise allowed. Acreage subdivisions often have deed restrictions and an architectural committee with tree and clearing rules stricter than the county. And utility and pipeline easements across your land have their own rules about what you can plant and clear inside the corridor. None of these are permits, but all of them can stop a job.
Rural pasture or ranch, outside city limits, no creek. No permit. Clear it. This describes most of the acreage we mulch, from the 125 acre Elgin pasture to a 3 acre Lometa fence line.
Rural homesite, county land. No tree permit. The septic system is permitted through the county, and if the pad or driveway touches mapped floodplain that needs the county floodplain permit. The clearing land for a house guide covers the sequence.
Lot inside city limits. Tree ordinance applies. Brush and cedar come out freely; protected hardwoods need the city’s sign off. We flag which trees on the lot are likely covered before we quote.
Commercial or subdivision tract. Stormwater plan, tree survey, floodplain permit if applicable, aquifer plan if over the recharge zone. All the owner’s and engineer’s scope; we clear to the plan.
Old mixed cedar and oak canopy in the western Hill Country. Ask about warbler habitat before cutting mature woodland. Young cedar in open pasture is not habitat.
We do not pull permits, file stormwater plans, run tree surveys or give legal advice, and we would rather say that plainly than pretend. What we do is tell you which of the rules above your tract is likely to trigger, based on where it is and what is growing on it, before we quote; clear to the tree survey and the limits on a construction plan; fence protected trees and stay off them; mulch at grade in floodplain rather than move dirt in it unless the permit is in hand; and refuse to clear something that looks like a problem until the owner has asked the right office. If a company tells you no permit is ever needed, or that they will handle all the permits for you, be careful with both.
On rural land outside city limits, generally no. Texas has no statewide land clearing permit and agricultural clearing is exempt from most regulation. Inside city limits, protected trees over a set diameter need a permit. Grading in a mapped floodplain needs a county floodplain permit.
Almost always. Cedar, mesquite, yaupon, brush and dead wood are not protected under city tree ordinances, and on rural land there is no permit at all. The exception is mature mixed cedar and oak woodland in golden-cheeked warbler range in the western Hill Country, which is worth a question first.
For protected hardwoods above the city’s diameter threshold, yes, or a mitigation plan. Brush and invasive species usually do not need one. Each city sets its own rules, so the planning or urban forestry office is the call.
Mulching brush at grade generally does not need one. Grading, fill, a pad, a road or a culvert in mapped floodplain needs a floodplain development permit from the county. Work in the channel itself can involve the Army Corps of Engineers.
No. We tell you which rules your tract is likely to trigger and which office to call, and we clear to the plan and the tree survey. Permits, surveys and stormwater plans are the owner’s or engineer’s scope.
Only outside a burn ban and outside city limits, and often not near a subdivision. Mulching in place leaves nothing to burn, which is why it is the default on most Texas tracts.
Send photos and the location. We will tell you what your property is likely to trip, which office answers it, and what the clearing looks like once it is settled.