Tree service in Portland, Oregon

Tree removal permits in Portland

Portland’s code regulates private trees at 12 inches DBH and larger (PCC 11.40.020). Below that size you may cut without a permit unless the lot sits in an environmental overlay zone or a plan district, where Table 40-1 can pull smaller trees into the system. Two permit types matter for a homeowner. Type A needs no public notice and covers dead, dying or dangerous trees, nuisance species, a trunk within 10 feet of a structure, and up to 4 healthy trees under 20 inches in a year. Trees 20 inches and larger fall under Type B, which does carry notice. Urban Forestry, part of Portland Parks & Recreation and housed within Portland Permitting & Development, issues both; reach it at Trees@PortlandOregon.gov or 503-823-8733.

Since July 1, 2025 the Removal and Replanting permit has had no charge. Replacement is where the cost sits: tree-for-tree under 20 inches and inch-for-inch at 20 inches and up (11.40.060), with a fund payment allowed in place of planting at $472 per DBH inch or $712 per tree. The Replanting Waiver is $50, down from $100, and hourly review runs $160. A dead or dangerous tree still needs its Type A permit, but it skips the notice step, which is the fastest legal route for a hazard. Street trees are stricter: a permit is always required to remove one of any size, pruning needs a permit except for sucker shoots under half an inch, and replacement is required under 11.40.040, all free since 2025. The Oregon permit guide sets these rules beside the other cities’.

Every city compared: tree removal permits in Oregon.

Source: Portland Parks & Recreation Urban Forestry, within Portland Permitting & Development (Trees@PortlandOregon.gov, 503-823-8733), Portland City Code Title 11 (Trees): 11.40.020, 11.40.030, 11.40.050 (Table 40-3), 11.40.060, 11.50.040, 11.20.060, 11.60. Checked 2026-10-02.

Storm records for Multnomah County (covers Portland)

Multnomah County ranks 5th of Oregon’s 36 counties in NOAA’s storm log, with 208 reports. Heavy snow accounts for 66 of them, winter storms and wildfire for 34 each, strong wind for 26 and high wind for 20; the tail runs to 9 ice storms, 4 thunderstorm-wind reports, 3 tornadoes and 3 blizzards. December, February and January are the peak months, and 73 percent of reports fall in November through February.

A top-5 county means two things for a Portland homeowner. Crews here see enough winter damage that a December storm call competes with every other December storm call, while a planned removal in late summer gets a crew faster. The count is falling, though: 51 reports in the last three years against 84 in the three before. FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the county Relatively High for ice and winter weather, Relatively Moderate for wind and Relatively High overall. If a tree has already come down, see fallen tree removal; for a standing tree, start at tree removal.

NWS forecast zones covering the county: East Portland Metro; Inner Portland Metro; North Oregon Cascades; Outer Southeast Portland Metro; Tualatin Valley; West Columbia River Gorge I-84 Corridor.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 2016 to June 2026 · NWS zone-county correlation files (2019 to 2026 versions). Checked 2026-10-02. NOAA Storm Events 2016-2026; zone-based events assigned to every county the NWS zone covers using the zone-county correlation file in force on the event date (2019-04-02 file used for 2016-2018).

Power lines and utilities in Portland

Portland’s electric utility is not mapped on this site yet; the utilities page lists the Washington and Oregon utilities that are, with their trimming and outage rules. Until it is, treat any line as live: call the number on your bill before trimming near a service drop, and do not let a crew work within reach of a conductor without the utility’s say-so. The power-line removal page covers who is responsible for which span.

Split: Pacific Power serves most of NE Portland, part of N Portland and three downtown pockets; PGE serves SE, SW, NW and most of N

Source: utility vegetation-management pages linked above; OAR 437-002-0306 (OR-OSHA). Checked 2026-10-02.

Pests and quarantines

Emerald ash borer (EAB) · quarantineMediterranean oak borer (MOB)

Emerald ash borer is confirmed in Portland, and the city sits inside Oregon’s EAB quarantine. Raw ash wood stays inside the quarantine boundary; it may leave only as chips of 1 inch or smaller, as kiln-dried and debarked lumber, or after heating to a 160F core for 60 minutes with ODA permission. Cover loads during the April 1 to September 30 flight period and report suspect trees through the Oregon Invasive Species Online Hotline; OregonEAB.com carries the current map. Mediterranean oak borer is also confirmed here, without a quarantine: do not move cut oak firewood more than 10 miles from its source, and burn or chip infested trees, stump included, on site at 1 inch or smaller. The Oregon EAB page covers what an infested ash looks like.

• Emerald ash borer (EAB): OR (ODF/ODA): keep raw ash wood inside the quarantine; move only as <=1-in chips or kiln-dried debarked lumber, or heat 160F core for 60 min with ODA permission; cover loads during flight period Apr 1
• Mediterranean oak borer (MOB): Don't move cut oak firewood >10 miles from source; cut then burn or chip (<=1 in) infested trees including the stump on site; report with photos/location to Oregon Invasives Hotline

Source: Emerald ash borer (EAB) · Mediterranean oak borer (MOB). Checked 2026-10-02.

Rain, snow and the growing season in Portland

NOAA’s normals for Portland International Airport put the city at 36.92 inches of precipitation a year and 4.2 inches of snow, with December the wettest month at 5.77 inches and July the driest at 0.51. Portland sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a, so a replacement tree can be almost anything suited to wet winters and dry summers; the July and August gap of 0.51 and 0.54 inches is the stretch a new tree has to be watered through.

Portland Intl Ap, Or Us: 36.9 in of precipitation a year, wettest in December, 4.2 in of snow. USDA hardiness zone 9a.

Source: NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991 to 2020 · USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (OSU PRISM ZIP data). Checked 2026-10-02.

Labor index for Portland

BLS puts the mean wage for tree trimmers and pruners in the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro metro at $35.04 an hour, with a median of $36.33 and 1,160 people in the occupation, a deep enough bench that competing bids are realistic. Remember it is a wage, not a price: equipment, insurance, disposal and the crew’s travel sit on top, and the modeled range on the tree removal cost page is built from those loaded costs.

Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA: $35.04 per hour mean wage for tree trimmers and pruners (BLS, May 2025). This is a labor index, not a price; the modeled crew-hour cost used on this site is $225 (method).

238 landscaping-services establishments were counted in Multnomah County in 2023 (Census County Business Patterns, NAICS 561730).

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 37-3013 · U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, NAICS 561730. Checked 2026-10-02.

ZIP codes and nearby cities

This page covers Portland ZIP codes including 97203, 97219, 97217, 97210, 97220, 97211, 97236 and 97230. Neighbors with their own pages and rules: Milwaukie at 7 miles, Lake Oswego and Beaverton at 9 miles, and Happy Valley, Tigard and Gresham at 10 miles. County-level storm, hazard and burn rules are on the Multnomah County page.

ZIP codes with the most land inside Portland: 9720397219972179721097220972119723697230

• Milwaukie7 miles
• Lake Oswego9 miles
• Beaverton9 miles
• Happy Valley10 miles
• Tigard10 miles
• Gresham10 miles

County page: Multnomah County.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 ZCTA to place and county relationship files. Checked 2026-10-02.

Tree services in Portland

Each service has its own Portland page: tree removal for a whole tree, including the dead-tree route that matches a Type A permit; tree trimming, where the street-tree pruning permit applies; stump grinding for what is left after; and emergency tree service for a tree on a roof, a car or a line. For an ash or an oak that is declining, an arborist visit comes first, because the pest rules above change how the wood leaves the property. When Title 11 itself calls for an arborist, as with development tree plans, overlay-zone pruning or an emergency removal, see arborists and arborist reports in Portland.

• Tree removal in Portland
• Tree trimming in Portland
• Stump grinding in Portland
• Emergency tree service in Portland
• Arborist reports in Portland
• Arborists and tree health
• Check a license in Oregon

What to do next

Measure the trunk at breast height and decide which permit type fits before you call anyone; a dead or dangerous tree is a Type A, and a healthy tree over 20 inches is a Type B with notice. Confirm the company’s standing with the Oregon license lookup guide, and ask how it will handle ash or oak wood under the quarantine. For storm damage, the insurance guide covers what to document before the crew starts cutting.