Tree Permits and Bylaws: North Shore and Sunshine Coast

Every municipality we work in has its own rules about cutting trees on private property, and they are not the same. A tree you could remove without paperwork in one town needs an arborist report, a permit and a replacement planting a ferry ride away.

Below is a plain-language summary for each community Cascadia Tree Care serves, with links to the official pages so you can check the details yourself.

One thing worth saying up front: removal is not always the answer. Pruning, crown reduction, cabling or simply monitoring a tree often solves the problem, costs less and keeps you clear of the bylaw entirely. Get an ISA-certified arborist to look at the tree before you assume it has to come down.

Do I need a permit to remove a tree?

In most of the areas we serve, yes, if the tree is "protected." What counts as protected depends on where you live, and usually comes down to some combination of:

• Size. Measured as diameter at breast height (DBH), roughly 1.3 to 1.4 metres above the ground.
• Species. Arbutus, Garry oak, Pacific yew, Pacific dogwood and yellow cedar show up on almost every protected list.
• Location. Trees near creeks and the shoreline, or on steep slopes, are protected at much smaller sizes.
• Status. Heritage trees, wildlife trees, trees with active nests, and trees planted or retained as a condition of a past permit are protected regardless of size.

Municipalities generally issue permits when a tree is dead, hazardous, damaging a building or utility, or sitting inside an approved building envelope. They generally do not issue permits to improve a view.

City of North Vancouver

Regulated by Tree Bylaw No. 8888, 2022.

What is protected: Any tree with a DBH of 20 cm or greater, plus any tree previously planted as a replacement tree. The bylaw's coverage depends on your property's zoning, and several single-family and two-family residential zones sit outside it, so confirm your zoning with the City before you assume either way.

Getting a permit: You will need a certified arborist's assessment, and depending on the situation a site plan or survey, an arborist report, a tree protection plan and a tree replacement plan. Removed trees must be replaced, and at least one replacement must be a conifer.

Emergencies: A tree posing an imminent risk to life or property from natural causes can be cut without a permit first, then reported.

Penalties: Fines up to $50,000.

Official links:

• Trees on Private Property, City of North Vancouver
• Tree Removal Permit Application Form

District of North Vancouver

Regulated by Tree Protection Bylaw No. 7671, 2012. Despite the shared name, the District's rules are noticeably different from the City's, so check which side of the line your address falls on.

What is protected:

• Any tree 75 cm (30") DBH or larger, measured 1.3 m above ground.
• Any tree, at any size, that is within a streamside protection area, on a slope greater than 30%, on waterfront or wetland, or on District land including parks and boulevards.
• Heritage trees, wildlife trees and replacement trees.
• Arbutus, Garry oak, Oregon ash, Pacific yew, western white pine and yellow cedar.

Getting a permit: Start with an arborist report submitted to the District. A District arborist inspects the tree, and the permit follows if it is approved.

Penalties: Fines from $1,000 to $50,000 per offence, per day.

Official link:

• Tree Protection Bylaw, District of North Vancouver

District of West Vancouver

Regulated by the Tree Bylaw, amended by Bylaw No. 5373, 2025, effective December 15, 2025.

What is protected:

• Any tree 75 cm DBH or greater, or a multi-stemmed tree with a combined stem DBH of 75 cm or more.
• On a parcel being developed, that threshold drops to 20 cm DBH. This applies to parcels getting at least one new residential or commercial building, or being subdivided to create a new residential lot. A parcel counts as "being developed" from the day a building, demolition or development permit is applied for until the building permit is closed.
• Any replacement, retained or heritage tree.
• Any tree in a Watercourse Protection Area or Foreshore Protection Area.
• Arbutus, Garry oak, Pacific yew, Pacific dogwood, yellow cedar, and shore pine within the protected shoreline area, over 20 cm DBH.
• Any tree with an active bird nest, or any nest of an eagle, peregrine falcon, gyrfalcon, heron, osprey or burrowing owl whether active or not.

Getting a permit: You need an arborist report setting out the work and the rationale, then the Private Property Tree Cutting Permit application submitted through the District's Document Upload Centre. As of the 2025 Fees and Charges Bylaw the fee is $330, plus $120 for each additional tree. Review usually takes two to three weeks. A security deposit may be required, one replacement tree is required for every protected tree removed, and the permit has to be posted on site and visible from the street while the work happens.

Worth knowing: West Vancouver does not grant permits to cut protected trees purely to improve a view. If you are redeveloping, protected trees outside the permitted building envelope generally have to stay, except where needed for driveway access and garage placement.

Official links:

• Tree Cutting Permit: Private Property, District of West Vancouver
• West Vancouver Tree Bylaw

Town of Gibsons

Regulated by Tree Preservation Bylaw No. 1282, 2020, which applies to all land within the Town.

What is protected:

• Any tree, any species, with a DBH of 30 cm or more.
• Listed species at 20 cm DBH or more: arbutus, Pacific dogwood, Pacific yew, Garry oak, Douglas fir, western red cedar, bigleaf maple, grand fir, western hemlock, yellow cedar and balsam fir.
• Any tree 10 cm DBH or more on sloping terrain, meaning a slope steeper than 20%.
• Replacement, retained, specimen, heritage and wildlife trees.
• Protected tree seedlings: Garry oak, Pacific dogwood and arbutus between 50 cm and 5 m tall, regardless of diameter.
• Any tree with nesting or use protected under the Wildlife Act, Migratory Birds Convention Act or Species at Risk Act.

Gibsons measures DBH at 1.3 m on the uphill side, and for multi-stemmed trees adds the largest stem plus 60% of each additional stem.

Exemptions: Normal pruning carried out to sound arboricultural practice does not need a permit. Neither does work already covered by a development permit that addresses the removal.

Replacement: On single-family lots, two replacement trees for each 20 to 30 cm protected tree removed, and three for each tree 30 cm or larger. A $300 security deposit per replacement tree is held and released after 24 months if the tree is healthy, or $300 per tree in lieu if planting is not possible. No replacements are required for hazard trees.

Emergencies: If a tree is in imminent danger of falling you can cut it first, but do not remove it from the lot until the Town has attended and confirmed the situation.

Penalties: Fines up to $5,000, applied separately to each tree.

Official links:

• Tree Cutting Permits, Town of Gibsons
• About the Tree Preservation Bylaw

District of Sechelt

Regulated by Environmental Management and Protection Bylaw No. 484, 2009, which is aimed mainly at reducing tree loss on development sites.

Where the bylaw applies:

• All properties 1.0 hectare (2.47 acres) or larger.
• All trees within 30 m of Chapman Creek or Gray Creek, or within 15 m of any other watercourse, including the ocean.
• All trees on slopes of 30% or greater.

What counts as a protected tree:

• Any tree 60 cm (24") in diameter or larger, measured 1.4 m above ground.
• Trees marked "to be retained" on a plan attached to an approved development permit, building permit, variance or subdivision.
• Any nesting tree.
• Any tree protected by a Land Title Act section 219 covenant.

When you likely do not need a permit: Existing residential properties under 1 hectare that are not in a Development Permit Area, ALR or forestry tenure land, and emergency removal of hazard trees. District staff can confirm based on your address and the work proposed.

Fees and replacement: $50 per tree for the first three trees, plus $10 for each additional tree. Where trees have to come out for construction, replacements must be planted, or $750 per tree paid in lieu if planting on site is not possible.

Official link:

• Tree Cutting Permit, District of Sechelt

Bowen Island

Bowen is the outlier. Bowen Island Municipality does not have a tree removal bylaw or a tree cutting permit process for private property.

That does not mean anything goes:

• Development Permit Areas. If your property sits in a DP Area, including the watershed and streams areas, you will likely need a development permit before removing trees and vegetation.
• Site alteration permits. Since January 1, 2023, under Bylaw No. 568, 2022, a site alteration permit is required for clearing land or removing and depositing soil above set thresholds. The bylaw defines a tree as any living erect woody plant 10 cm (4") or more in diameter measured 1.4 m above ground.
• Covenants. Many Bowen properties carry restrictive covenants that limit clearing. Copies are available through the BC Land Title Office.
• Provincial law. The Wildlife Act and Migratory Birds Convention Act apply everywhere, Bowen included.

Because it comes down to your specific parcel, check with the Planning Department before clearing.

Official links:

• Building and Planning FAQs, Bowen Island Municipality
• Development Approvals and Site Alteration Permits

Rules that apply everywhere

Bird nesting season. Under section 34 of the BC Wildlife Act it is an offence to disturb or destroy an active bird nest. The busiest window runs from roughly March 15 to August 15. Nests belonging to eagles, herons, ospreys, peregrine falcons, gyrfalcons and burrowing owls are protected year-round, whether or not they are in use. A municipal permit does not override this.

Hazard trees. Every municipality has a path for genuinely dangerous trees, but "hazard" has a specific meaning and generally needs a certified arborist to document it. If a tree is in imminent danger of falling you can usually act first and report after, though most municipalities want the stem left on site until they have inspected it. Do not assume a leaning tree qualifies.

Boulevard and park trees. The tree between your sidewalk and the street is almost always municipal property, even if you have watered it for twenty years. Removing or pruning it without permission is a separate offence from anything on your own land.

Trees on the property line. A tree whose trunk straddles a boundary is generally shared, and you need your neighbour's written consent to remove it. Overhanging branches can usually be pruned back to the property line, but only if the work does not harm the tree's health or stability. This is where a lot of neighbour disputes start, and a written arborist opinion is cheap insurance.

Penalties are real. Fines on the North Shore run as high as $50,000 per tree, and municipalities can require replacement planting and hold security on top of the fine. Removing a protected tree without a permit is far more expensive than the permit.

We handle the paperwork

Cascadia Tree Care is a team of ISA-certified arborists working across the North Shore of Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast. We write the arborist reports these applications need, complete tree risk assessments, and take care of permit submissions so you are not chasing forms between jobs.

Every project starts with a site visit. We will tell you honestly whether the tree needs to come down, whether pruning solves the problem, and exactly what your municipality will require.

 

Bylaws change. This page is a general summary current as of August 2026, not legal advice. Always confirm the current requirements with your municipality before starting work.