The local source comes first.

1. Official municipal tree, forestry, bylaw and permit pages.
2. Official bylaws, application forms and permit guides.
3. Provincial or delegated sources where a separate law applies.
4. Secondary sources may help discovery; they do not control a local rule claim.

A city guide needs a tree-specific official source and enough detail to describe the local scope without guessing.

When evidence is incomplete, the guide identifies what needs confirmation. Search indexing is reviewed separately from whether a numerical checker answer is supported.

• Source-route review: confirms that an official page is current and relevant. It does not automatically reverify every fact.
• Fact verification: keeps the evidence date for the specific rule, threshold or procedure.
• Unconfirmed structured facts stay unresolved; a refreshed URL alone does not promote them. Automated size comparisons require official direct evidence reviewed within the past 365 days.

A private-tree size threshold, public-tree bylaw and woodland rule are different systems. We do not apply one city’s rule to the next.