Cedar Creek, Texas · Bastrop County
Tree removal in Cedar Creek
The western edge of the Lost Pines, and the western edge of the 2011 burn.
Cedar Creek regulates removals from the ground up — assume you need to ask before anything comes down.
About 30 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 Cedar Creek actually regulates
Cedar Creek properties often have both — pine on the sand and post oak on the rises. Fire-damaged trees are the specific thing to watch: a pine that survived a burn can carry hidden decay behind the scarred face for a decade before it fails. Worth having those looked at rather than guessed at.
Under the threshold
Not regulated
No permit needed — Cedar Creek has no city government to require one.
Cedar Creek is unincorporated, in Bastrop County, not a city. No municipal tree ordinance exists because there's no municipality. Deed restrictions, a plat note or an HOA can still say otherwise on your specific lot, so it's worth a quick check of your paperwork before you assume you're clear.
The ordinance, in its own words
Cedar Creek is an unincorporated community in Bastrop County, Texas — it has no incorporated city government and therefore no municipal tree ordinance.
Source: Texas Almanac (Texas State Historical Association) — Cedar Creek place record. This is a reading of the code, not legal advice and not the city’s own determination. Ordinances change.
Everything else the Cedar Creek code attaches
- If it's not construction-related
- Nothing to file with the county for a straight removal. If your lot is in an HOA or has deed restrictions, those are private rules, not government ones, and worth reading before you cut.
- How it's measured
- Not applicable — there's no ordinance to measure against.
- Who to call
- No city — unincorporated Bastrop County
Check your own tree against Cedar Creek’s rule
Permit checker
Measure it, then check it
Pick Cedar Creek, 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 Cedar Creek
Rural wooded lots, mostly workable, thirty minutes from Kyle. Western edge of the Lost Pines, thirty minutes from me, on wooded properties where the approach is usually fine but the trees are often close together. Removals in a stand need more rigging than the same tree in the open.
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
Both worlds — loblolly pine on the sand and post oak on the rises, at the western edge of the Lost Pines and the western edge of the 2011 burn. Fire-scarred trees are the specific thing to watch. The visible wound is usually much smaller than the column of decay behind it. Fire-scarred pines are the specific thing here, and the follow-on problem is beetles. Ips engraver beetles go for pines that are already stressed or damaged, and a tree carrying a burn scar and a drought is exactly what they're looking for. The tell is pitch tubes on the trunk — small blobs of resin — and sawdust in the bark crevices. A healthy pine pushes them out; a stressed one doesn't.
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 Cedar Creek.
Questions I get asked
Do I need a permit to remove a tree in Cedar Creek?
It depends on the trunk size. Cedar Creek is an unincorporated community in Bastrop County, Texas — it has no incorporated city government and therefore no municipal tree ordinance. That is Texas Almanac (Texas State Historical Association) — Cedar Creek place record, and it is quoted in full further down this page.
How do I measure my tree for Cedar Creek'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. Cedar Creek writes its rule in inches in diameter. 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?
Most ordinances around here treat a dead, diseased or genuinely hazardous tree differently from a healthy one somebody would simply rather not have, and a written assessment from a Certified Arborist is usually what the city wants to see. There is one on my crew. Get the condition documented before you file anything, not after.
How much does tree removal cost in Cedar Creek?
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 Cedar Creek 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.