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April 16, 2026 Clouds | 76°F
The 194th General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Bill S.1429 194th (Current)

An Act to update the public shade tree law

By Ms. Creem, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 1429) of Cynthia Stone Creem and Steven Owens for legislation to regulate the powers of tree wardens in municipalities in the Commonwealth. Municipalities and Regional Government.

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Bill Information

Presenter:
Cynthia Stone Creem
Status:
Referred to Senate Committee on Ways and Means

tree warden responsibilities and qualifications

Chapter 87 of the General Laws, which gives local tree wardens the authority to protect public shade trees, was first passed in the 1890s and has not undergone significant revision since 1913. This bill would update chapter 87 to ensure that tree wardens have the authority and training they need to protect local tree canopies from 21st-century risks. The bill would ensure that anyone who willfully or negligently damages a public shade tree with a vehicle must pay damages and a fine of $500. The bill provides that fines will be set by regulation for violations of local rules governing public shade trees or for anyone who cuts or marks a public shade tree. Current fines for those offenses are capped at $20 and $50, respectively—limits that are too low to deter violations or adequately fund remedial measures. The bill would remove or loosen several of chapter 87’s requirements. Current law prohibits tree wardens and their deputies from cutting down or removing a tree located in a public way without a hearing, if the tree has a diameter of one and half inches or greater. This hearing requirement has proven to be overly burdensome, so the bill would increase the diameter that triggers the hearing requirement to four inches. The bill would end the onerous requirement that a town’s select board or road commissioners approve a location for each tree planted on a public way. Current law also allows local officials to order the removal of a tree located in a public way if they determine—without any specified standards—that it obstructs or hinders people traveling along the public way. The bill would require that any such determination be made following an inspection based on accepted industry or government arboricultural standards. The bill would remove road widening as a condition for cutting down public shade trees without a hearing. This change would help preserve tree cover, especially in urban communities where canopies are sparser and clustered along roadways. Finally, chapter 87 does not include any professional qualifications for tree wardens, an omission that reflects the norms of the era in which it was passed, when arboriculture was not an established field and tree wardens learned skills informally on the job. The bill would specify that a qualified tree warden is one who has completed a forestry or natural resource management degree or obtained one of several professional certifications. In municipalities with fewer than 10,000 residents, a qualified tree warden would be one who has completed a specific series of professional development courses or received equivalent training.
* The bill summary was created by the Primary Sponsor of the bill; no committee of the General Court certifies the accuracy of its contents.

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