Caledon Tree Removal Permit: Rules, Fees & Arborist Reports

Caledon’s first private tree bylaw took effect in 2026

Caledon’s Tree Preservation By-law 2025-101 took effect January 1, 2026, replacing what had been, for most of the town, no private tree protection at all. It protects any tree 30 cm or larger in diameter at breast height on private property. A separate, older bylaw covers woodlands.

The Tree Preservation By-law

By-law 2025-101 applies to every tree 30 cm DBH or larger on private property across Caledon. Trees under that threshold are not regulated. A separate Woodland Conservation By-law (2000-100) applies to qualifying wooded areas regardless of individual tree size.

What Requires a Permit

• Removing any tree 30 cm+ DBH on private property
• Injuring a tree in a way likely to cause its decline or death
• Any construction or grading activity within the tree protection zone of a protected tree

Exemptions

• Trees under 30 cm DBH
• Trees with no living tissue or 70%+ dead crown (the Inspector may require an arborist certificate, and nobody may remove the tree until the Inspector has it)
• Hazardous trees
• Trees destroyed as part of emergency work
• Nursery, Christmas tree plantation, or orchard businesses
• Removals authorized separately under the Woodland Conservation By-law process

Separately, dead, dying, or poor-condition trees are exempt from the replanting compensation requirement (though not from the permit itself), except within residential lot environmental easements.

Invasive species are not exempt from the permit requirement or from compensation ratios under this bylaw.

Niagara Escarpment Overlap

Part of Caledon sits in the Niagara Escarpment Plan area. Inside its Area of Development Control, a tree removal for construction or development also needs a Niagara Escarpment Commission Development Permit. Ontario Regulation 828/90 exempts hazard and dead-tree removals. We check Escarpment status before we plan a removal.

How to Apply for a Tree Removal Permit

Step 1: Confirm the Diameter and Check for Overlap

Measure the tree at 1.37 m above grade. If it’s 30 cm or larger, a permit applies. Then check whether the property falls within the Niagara Escarpment Plan area or a mapped woodland, since either adds a second approval track.

Step 2: Hire an ISA Certified Arborist

Caledon’s application requires documentation of the tree and the reasons for removal. The report should cover species, condition, diameter, the case for removal, and (per the town’s drawing specifications) a plan overlaid on a current property survey showing tree locations, canopies, and any protection fencing.

Step 3: Submit Your Application

Applications go through the Town’s online form. There is no application fee as of 2026. Include the arborist’s documentation and, where applicable, evidence of Niagara Escarpment Commission approval.

Step 4: Town Review

Natural Heritage staff review the submission.

Replacement Requirements

Caledon uses a DBH-tiered lookup table rather than a flat ratio: a tree of 10 to 20 cm removed requires 1 replacement, 21 to 35 cm requires 2, 36 to 50 cm requires 3, 51 to 65 cm requires 4, and anything over 65 cm requires 5. Compensation trees must meet or exceed the Town’s standard planting specifications. Where on-site planting isn’t feasible, the Town accepts cash in lieu, set in its fee schedule at the cost to buy, plant and maintain the tree.

Penalties

Contraventions carry a fine of $500 to $100,000, with continuing offences adding up to $10,000 per day on top of that. An Inspector can also issue an Order to stop the work and to correct it, including planting or replanting any tree destroyed or injured, and a court that convicts a person may order replanting or a payment to the Town.

Working with The Arborist Group

We check the Woodland Conservation By-law and Niagara Escarpment jurisdiction for each Caledon property. We prepare the documentation the Town’s application requires and sequence any Escarpment approval alongside it, so a project doesn’t stall waiting on a second agency partway through.