1. Confirm ownership first
Property and tree context determine which Maple Ridge rule applies Do not prune or remove a boulevard/City tree as if it were private property.
A plain-English guide to what Maple Ridge publishes about tree removal and protection. The first question is whether the rule covers your private tree at all—not every City tree bylaw is a private-yard permit bylaw.
Maple Ridge’s published tree and bylaw rules, in plain English:
Maple Ridge's updated 2026 Tree Protection and Management Bylaw protects specified trees, including a common 20 cm diameter-at-breast-height category.
A permit can be required not only for removal but also for work that injures a protected tree, including excessive live-crown pruning under the bylaw.
Maple Ridge uses its own tree-protection rules within British Columbia. See the BC tree-rule overview; this page keeps the local diameter, ownership, development and replacement details separate.
These are the main signals in the Maple Ridge municipal source: who the rule covers, whether a permit path is identified, any published diameter signal, and extra requirements that can change the answer.
Maple Ridge’s published material needs to be read by tree ownership, location and project context rather than through one Canada-wide rule.
Property and tree context determine which Maple Ridge rule applies Do not prune or remove a boulevard/City tree as if it were private property.
In Maple Ridge, development applications, environmental areas, riparian/ravine lands, covenanted trees or planning approvals can create tree-protection rules even when an ordinary private-yard tree is not covered by a blanket bylaw.
The local material includes 20 cm. Make sure that number applies to this ownership/location category before using it.
If the tree is on a Maple Ridge road allowance, boulevard, park or other municipal land, use the municipal process before pruning, root disturbance or removal.
For general tree-law concepts, use these guides:
Public vs. private trees · Construction near trees · Tree-removal permits ·The source reviewed for Maple Ridge does not justify assuming that ordinary yard construction is always outside tree rules. If work could affect a City tree, boundary tree, protected area or a tree retained through development approval, confirm the municipal requirements before excavation or root disturbance.
Use the size, species, property-area and protected-area rules published by Maple Ridge.
Open Maple Ridge’s rule ↗If the trunk is on Maple Ridge municipal land, a boulevard or road allowance, do not self-authorize pruning or removal. Confirm ownership and use the municipality’s tree process.
Check ownership rules ↗If the trunk sits on or very near a property line in Maple Ridge, confirm ownership before work. Municipal tree rules do not replace private-law rights involving a co-owned or neighbouring tree.
Check local application rules ↗In Maple Ridge, development work such as demolition, additions or subdivision can bring tree-retention, arborist or replacement requirements into the approval path; use the linked development-tree source for the site.
Check development-tree rules ↗The Maple Ridge source shows mixed or conditional tree-rule coverage. Primary source checked September 13, 2026. The page does not turn that into a blanket private-tree rule when the municipality has not done so.
Open primary Maple Ridge source ↗How Tree Rules Canada fact-checks pages →Use Maple Ridge’s current municipal source before booking removal or construction near a tree. That source controls the current threshold, exceptions, forms, fees and any replacement conditions.
Maple Ridge tree sources checked September 13, 2026. Re-check the linked municipality for current fees, protected-tree definitions and permit steps; Tree Rules Canada is independent.