Bastrop, Texas · Bastrop County
Tree removal in Bastrop
The Lost Pines — the westernmost loblolly pine forest in America, cut off from the East Texas forests by about a hundred miles.
In Bastrop, a tree of about 10 caliper inches or more is where the city gets involved. Below that you are generally clear to take it down.
About 40 minutes from me in Kyle. Whatever the answer turns out to be, it is a form and a measurement rather than a refusal — these get approved all the time. Call me and I’ll tell you where you stand.
What Bastrop actually regulates
They grow here because of a clay layer sitting under drifted sand, holding just enough water. The 2011 Bastrop County Complex Fire took roughly 95% of Bastrop State Park and more than a million of those pines, and over two million seedlings have gone back in the ground since. What that means for a Bastrop homeowner today is a lot of fifteen-year-old pines planted too close together, plus surviving veterans with fire scars at the base. Pine is not oak — different pruning, different decay, different risk. Don't let anybody treat it like a live oak.
10 caliper inches and up
Permit needed
10 caliper inches or more — permit needed if it's a listed species.
Bastrop protects a tree meeting two conditions at once: it's on the city's Plant List, and it's 10 caliper inches or more. Both have to be true. If they are, you apply through MyGov and the City Arborist inspects it.
Under the threshold
Not regulated
Under 10 caliper inches — no permit needed.
Bastrop's protection starts at 10 caliper inches. Below that, or for a species not on the city's Plant List, no permit is required.
The ordinance, in its own words
Protected trees requiring permits must be listed on the Plant List AND measure 10 inches caliper or greater at 4.5 feet above ground. Residential primary residence: no fee, replant one 2-inch caliper tree per removal. Non-residential: $400 per caliper inch fee or replant equal caliper onsite. Unauthorized removal: double mitigation fee plus required replacement; $500–$2,000 per tree per offense, misdemeanor charge.
Source: City of Bastrop — Tree Mitigation (Ord. 2025-28, B3 Code 6.3.004). This is a reading of the code, not legal advice and not the city’s own determination. Ordinances change.
Everything else the Bastrop code attaches
- If it's not construction-related
- Apply through the MyGov portal — free for residential. The City Arborist inspects and sets mitigation based on the circumstances.
- Species rules
- Protection applies only to species on the city's Plant List. If your tree isn't on it, size doesn't matter.
- If it's your own home
- On a primary residence there's no mitigation fee. You replant one 2-inch caliper tree for each tree removed.
- If it's commercial or development
- Non-residential: $400 per caliper inch, or replant equal caliper on site.
- If you skip the permit
- Removing a protected tree without the permit doubles the mitigation fee and still requires replacement, plus $500 to $2,000 per tree per offense and a misdemeanor charge.
- Dead, diseased or hazardous trees
- Dead, diseased or hazardous trees come out without mitigation fees where the City Arborist confirms the health or safety concern — so get the inspection before you cut, not after.
- Where it's written
- Ordinance 2025-28, effective April 2025, amending Chapter 1 Art. 1.13.05 and the B3 Code § 6.3.004.
- Who to call
- Bastrop Development Services, 512-332-8840, plan@cityofbastrop.org
Check your own tree against Bastrop’s rule
Permit checker
Measure it, then check it
Pick Bastrop, put the trunk measurement in, and it will show you exactly which band you are in and what the code says about it.
How a removal actually goes in Bastrop
Big wooded lots, generally good access on the sand, though the reforested areas are dense enough that getting to one tree means working past twenty. Forty minutes out, so I batch Bastrop work where I can.
Everything gets hauled away and the ground raked off behind us. Want the logs kept for firewood? Say so before we start and my crew will cut them to length and stack them rather than running them through the chipper.
The trees I get called about here
Loblolly pine — the Lost Pines — plus post oak and blackjack on the rises and big hardwoods down along the Colorado. Pine is the reason to hire somebody who has worked on pine. It compartmentalizes decay differently from oak, it bleeds resin from every cut, it can't refoliate from old wood the way a live oak can, and a topped pine is a dead pine on a delay. Post-fire trees are the other Bastrop specialty: a pine that survived the 2011 burn can carry hidden decay behind a scarred face for years.
Before you decide to remove it
A mature live oak took fifty years to reach that size and I can take it down in a morning. Neither of us can put it back. So the first thing I want to know is whether it actually needs to go — a tree that looks finished is quite often a tree that needs the deadwood out of it and nothing more. Here’s how to tell the difference, and here’s the risk check if you want to work it through yourself.
If it does need to come out, the permit side is the easy part. The rules for every town I’ve read are here, and here’s everything else I do in Bastrop.
Questions I get asked
Do I need a permit to remove a tree in Bastrop?
It depends on the trunk size. Protected trees requiring permits must be listed on the Plant List AND measure 10 inches caliper or greater at 4.5 feet above ground. Residential primary residence: no fee, replant one 2-inch caliper tree per removal. Non-residential: $400 … That is City of Bastrop — Tree Mitigation (Ord. 2025-28, B3 Code 6.3.004), and it is quoted in full further down this page.
How do I measure my tree for Bastrop's rules?
Put a tape around the trunk 4.5 feet above the ground to get the circumference, then divide by 3.14 for the diameter. Bastrop writes its rule in caliper inches. If the trunk splits into several stems below 4.5 feet, measure below the split — that usually puts you in a higher bracket than you expected.
What if the tree is dead or dangerous?
Dead, diseased or hazardous trees come out without mitigation fees where the City Arborist confirms the health or safety concern — so get the inspection before you cut, not after.
How much does tree removal cost in Bastrop?
Access is the biggest driver, ahead of size — whether there is a drop zone or whether every piece has to be roped out over a roof is the difference between a morning and a full day. Then trunk diameter, then lean and deadwood. Send me a photo and the circumference and I can usually price it from that.
Got a tree in Bastrop you’re not sure about?
Text me a photo and the measurement round the trunk. I’ll tell you which side of the line it’s on and what it takes to get it done.
Same-day callback on estimates
Call or text before 5pm on a weekday and you'll hear back from me the same day. Not an answering service — me.