Johnson City, Texas · Blanco County
Tree removal in Johnson City
The western limit of my radius, out in the LBJ ranch country.
In Johnson City, a tree of about 6 caliper inches or more is where the city gets involved. Below that you are generally clear to take it down.
About 48 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 Johnson City actually regulates
Ranch-scale work: pasture cedar clearing, oak deadwooding, storm cleanup along long county-road frontage. Worth batching with anything else out that direction.
24 caliper inches and up
Needs a hearing or council approval
Heritage Tree (large species), above 24 caliper inches — a permit is required, and 60% of the site's canopy is meant to be kept.
Johnson City's top tier, but it's a permit process through the city, not a dead end — you apply, the city reviews it, and there's a documented route for hazard trees. One thing to plan around: any oak, at any size, can't be cut or trimmed between February 1 and July 1 — that's oak wilt season across this whole region, not just here.
6 caliper inches and up
Permit needed
Protected Tree (large species), 6 to 24 caliper inches — a permit is required.
Same permit process as the Heritage tier, with a lighter 40% canopy-preservation expectation rather than 60%.
Under the threshold
Not regulated
Under 6 caliper inches on a large species — below Johnson City's protected floor.
Small-species trees are protected at a lower floor, 5 inches, and become Heritage above 8 — if you're not sure which category your tree's species falls into, that's a five-minute call, not a guess worth making yourself.
The ordinance, in its own words
A tree preservation and removal permit shall be required for any tree removal or trimming in the city of any tree described in this division. Trimming or cutting of any oak tree susceptible to oak wilt is prohibited from the first day of February to the first day of July.
Source: City of Johnson City — Code Ch. 15, Art. 15.01, Tree Preservation and Landscaping. This is a reading of the code, not legal advice and not the city’s own determination. Ordinances change.
Everything else the Johnson City code attaches
- If it's not construction-related
- A tree preservation and removal permit is required for any tree removal or trimming covered by this article — it's unlawful to proceed without one, but it is a standard permit, not a hearing, for most removals.
- How it's measured
- Caliper inches. Large species: Protected 6–24", Heritage above 24". Small species: Protected 5–8", Heritage above 8".
- If you skip the permit
- Removing or injuring a protected or heritage tree without the permit costs $500 per caliper inch, plus replacement at five times the removed tree's caliper.
- Dead, diseased or hazardous trees
- Oak wilt control drives a hard seasonal rule here: no cutting or trimming any oak between February 1 and July 1, permit or not, with wound paint required within 30 minutes where licensed work is allowed to proceed.
- Who to call
- City of Johnson City
Check your own tree against Johnson City’s rule
Permit checker
Measure it, then check it
Pick Johnson City, 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 Johnson City
The western limit of my radius at forty-eight minutes, on big properties with good room to work. Worth batching with anything else out that direction. The western limit of my radius at about forty-eight minutes, on ranch-scale properties with long county-road frontage. Plenty of room to work; the constraint is purely the drive, so it needs pairing with other work out that direction. Open ground and room to fell, which makes the work itself quick. The cost driver is purely the drive — it's the far edge of my radius, so it only makes sense as a planned day rather than a call-out, and it's worth batching several trees into one visit.
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
Ranch-scale plateau country — pasture ashe juniper, upland live oak, and Texas red oak in the draws. The work is deadwooding oaks, clearing pasture cedar, and storm cleanup along long county-road frontage. Pasture juniper, upland live oak, and Texas red oak down in the draws where moisture collects. Red oak is the one that matters for oak wilt — it's the species that forms the spore mats that infect the neighbourhood, so a dying red oak out here is worth identifying properly rather than ignoring. Johnson City is ranch country on the western edge of my range, up where the Pedernales has cut through and the plateau starts breaking into granite country toward Llano. The trees are live oak mottes, Ashe juniper, and Spanish oak on the slopes, and the work is a different scale from suburban tree service — it's acreage. What I get asked about most is oak wilt in the mottes, because a live oak motte is close to the textbook case of a root-grafted stand: dozens of stems that are functionally one organism, so an infection at one end works steadily through the whole thing.
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 Johnson City.
Questions I get asked
Do I need a permit to remove a tree in Johnson City?
It depends on the trunk size. A tree preservation and removal permit shall be required for any tree removal or trimming in the city of any tree described in this division. Trimming or cutting of any oak tree susceptible to oak wilt is prohibited from the first day of Fe… That is City of Johnson City — Code Ch. 15, Art. 15.01, Tree Preservation and Landscaping, and it is quoted in full further down this page.
How do I measure my tree for Johnson City'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. Johnson City 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?
Oak wilt control drives a hard seasonal rule here: no cutting or trimming any oak between February 1 and July 1, permit or not, with wound paint required within 30 minutes where licensed work is allowed to proceed.
How much does tree removal cost in Johnson City?
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 Johnson City 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.