Land Clearing Permits in Dallas & Dallas County

Most people expect the clearing permit question to start at an acre. Inside the city of Dallas it starts with a tape measure: Article X of the city code protects any tree with a caliper of eight inches or more unless it is on the code’s list of exempt species, and the tree division applies to all property in the city except lots smaller than two acres containing single-family or duplex uses. A wooded quarter-acre commercial lot can carry obligations that a five-acre pasture outside the city does not.

Code language below was read from the City of Dallas Article X document published by Sustainable Development, retrieved September 2026. The city has amended Article X before, so confirm current wording with the building official.

Do You Need a Permit to Clear Land in Dallas?

If a protected tree is coming down, yes, and the mechanism is an application rather than a classic permit.

Article X requires a responsible party to “post either an approved tree removal application in accordance with this section or a building permit in a conspicuous place at the entrances to the lot or tract, before removing or seriously injuring a protected tree on that lot or tract”. The application goes to the building official on a city form and must include the owner details, the street address and a tree survey showing the location, caliper and both common and scientific name of all trees on the lot, or a documented estimate of total caliper inches of protected trees (Article X, Sec. 51A-10.132).

If it is approved, replacement follows. The total caliper of replacement trees must equal or exceed the total caliper of the protected trees removed or seriously injured, each at least two inches caliper, from the code’s approved species list, planted within 30 days or six months by affidavit. Where planting on the same lot will not work, the code allows off-site planting, a conservation easement, or a payment into the city reforestation fund calculated with a published tree appraisal formula rather than a flat fee.

Two limits matter before assuming any of this applies. The tree division does not reach lots under two acres in single-family or duplex use, and it does not reach lots in a planned development district whose own landscape and tree rules vary appreciably from Article X, as the building official determines.

Which Trees Does Article X Actually Count?

This is where the code surprises people, because the exempt list covers much of what a clearing crew removes.

A protected tree is one of eight inches caliper or more that is not silver maple, tree of heaven, mimosa, hackberry or sugarberry, Arizona ash, eastern red cedar, female bois d’arc (horseapple), chinaberry, mesquite, black willow, Chinese tallow or Siberian elm.

Then comes the catch. Eastern red cedar and mesquite return to protection if the trunk is in, or within 120 feet of, a floodplain, wetland area or escarpment zone, or within 50 feet of a natural channel setback line, or if the tree reaches 12 inches of caliper anywhere. The same mesquite is exempt mid-pasture and protected near a creek. Caliper is measured 12 inches above the ground up to eight inches of diameter and at four and a half feet for anything larger, so the wrong measuring height is the easiest way to be wrong by an inch.

Where Does That Leave Forestry Mulching?

Not automatically outside the code, and it should not be sold that way. Article X defines clearing broadly as “any activity that removes or seriously injures one or more trees or the vegetative ground cover of one or more trees, such as root mat removal or topsoil removal”. Most mulching work involves nothing the code counts, because the stems are well under eight inches or sit on the exempt list, but the test is the tree rather than the method.

Requirements vary by parcel, scope and jurisdiction. Cut Brush can flag what commonly applies and help identify the right office, and we work to the approvals the owner holds. The governing authority makes the determination.

The State Trigger: One Acre of Disturbance

Above an acre, the state comes in on top of whatever the city requires.

TCEQ requires stormwater authorization under construction general permit TXR150000 for construction activities that “disturb one (1) or more acres of soil”, with notices of intent filed through the state’s STEERS system (TCEQ). The phrase that catches residential projects is “larger common plan of development or sale”: a half-acre lot inside a development that will disturb far more than an acre is not automatically exempt because your own piece is small.

Can You Burn What You Clear in Dallas County?

Treat the answer as no for planning purposes.

Texas generally prohibits outdoor burning with limited exceptions. The exception covering this work allows on-site burning of plant growth generated by right-of-way maintenance, landclearing operations and canal maintenance, but in a county that is part of a designated nonattainment area it applies only “if no practical alternative to burning exists” (30 TAC 111.209).

Dallas-Fort Worth is a designated ozone nonattainment area; TCEQ’s plan documents refer to a DFW nine-county area under the 2015 ozone standard and a ten-county area under the 2008 standard. Which counties sit inside which designation, and whether a particular burn meets an exception, are TCEQ determinations rather than a contractor’s opinion. The Collin County Fire Marshal states the process bluntly: “Neither the Collin County Fire Marshal nor any other county office can give permission to conduct outdoor burning; only the TCEQ can determine if the request meets an outdoor burning exception” (Collin County, retrieved September 2026).

In a metro where mulching and chipping are sold by a dozen firms, a practical alternative is exactly what exists. Cut Brush does not offer burning as a disposal method here.

Outside the City Limits and Beyond Dallas County

Different office, and a thinner published rulebook. Dallas County Public Works says it is developing “a Storm Water Management Plan (SWMP) for Unincorporated Areas in Dallas County”, publishes no clearing-specific acreage threshold of its own, and gives one stormwater contact in county engineering on 214-653-7426 (Dallas County, retrieved September 2026).

For parcels in Collin, Rockwall, Kaufman or Ellis County, or inside the suburban cities, local land disturbance, floodplain and tree rules are their own question. Those tree ordinances are not copies of Dallas’s, and this guide does not state a threshold for a code it has not read. Call the office covering your address.

Question	Who holds it
Protected tree removal inside Dallas	City of Dallas building official, Article X tree removal application
Stormwater authorization at one acre or more	TCEQ, construction general permit TXR150000 via STEERS
Whether a burn meets an exception	TCEQ only, not a county or city office
Unincorporated Dallas County stormwater	Dallas County Public Works, 214-653-7426
Suburban city tree and grading rules	That city’s building or engineering department

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a permit to clear brush on my own acre in Dallas?

Brush and small stems usually involve nothing Article X counts, because protection starts at eight inches of caliper and skips a long list of species. The moment a protected tree is involved the application and replacement rules apply, and at one acre of soil disturbance the state permit does too. The building official and TCEQ make those calls, not the contractor.

How long does the paperwork add to a project?

Plan in weeks rather than days. A tree survey has to be produced before an application can be filed, and replacement planting has its own 30-day clock afterwards. If a date matters, start the office conversation before booking a machine.

Get the Permit Question Settled Before You Clear

The lines here are not complicated once you know where they fall: eight inches of caliper and a species list inside the city, two acres of single-family or duplex lot for the exemption, one acre of soil disturbance for the state, and a burning exception only TCEQ can grant. Agency fees, replacement trees and reforestation payments are owner costs, never contractor charges.

See what the work costs on the Dallas pricing guide, compare methods in our Dallas forestry mulching cost guide, take the statewide view in the Texas land clearing cost per acre guide, read the local conditions on our Dallas land clearing page, then request a free quote.