The Historic & Specimen Trees Program
The Metro Nashville Historic & Specimen Trees Program
The Metro Historic & Specimen Trees Program helps counter indiscriminate removal of the most significant canopy trees in our city. This gives homeowners some legal power to preserve trees on their property and ensure that even if the property is sold and developed, our big, old beloved trees may remain.
This is a voluntary program, which makes it that much easier and more important for property owners to make the decision to register their mature trees. Specimen and historic trees must be nominated by the homeowner, so spread the word to your neighbors so that big tree owners are aware of the program!
Protecting the Big and Historic Trees of Nashville
Many of us are concerned about tree removals around the city, especially by property developers. One way we can take action to ensure our neighborhood trees remain in place is by registering them with Metro’s Historic & Specimen Trees Program! Big, mature trees on private property can receive a long-term protected status that requires a committee review for removal. Here, we’ll tell you how it works and why it’s an important tool in safeguarding Nashville’s canopy.
Trees can be nominated based on the following criteria:
Exceptional size and age
Recognition as a significant feature of a community
50+ years old and a memorial or witness to a significant individual, group, event, or cause
Large trees are among the most important in a canopy system, which is why it’s important that residents take all the steps they can to protect and preserve them. The biggest trees have many decades of growth behind them, and that can’t be simply replaced!
Trees of all ages and sizes are essential for a robust canopy ecosystem, and being able to protect healthy, mature trees ensures that the canopy has growth at all stages. However, big, mature trees provide the most ecosystem services due to their size. They cast the most shade, absorb the most groundwater, and breathe in the most carbon dioxide and oxygen. Young and middle-aged trees are important as well, of course, since many of them will one day be the mature powerhouses of the area.
Why Register Your Tree(s) with the Metro Historic & Specimen Trees Program?
Here are several reasons why we should register our biggest and oldest trees with this program:
Preservation - The program acknowledges ecological importance and designates protected status to the tree, making it more difficult to remove over its lifetime.
Green Infrastructure - Trees are ecosystem infrastructure: long-term landscape fixtures that produce essential ecosystem services like shade, water management, air filtration, and habitat provision for wildlife. Although the trees of a neighborhood are located on different properties, they form an integral canopy ecosystem across the area.
Longevity - This individual protection may help a tree stay around longer and provide more benefits over time.
Property Value - Large, healthy trees add long-term value to a property thanks to their production of ecosystem services, like the cooling effect of shade, and their visual appeal in the yard.
Local Quality of Life - Big trees improve our quality of life and contribute significantly to the beauty and experience of a place where we can live and create memories.
Legal Protections against Unreasonable Removal of Trees
The Nashville Tree Conservation Corps works with local legislators to help draft protective legal measures to maintain the character of the urban canopy as it is confronted with built development. These initiatives include tree-planting requirements and removal permit requirements in new construction. The Metro Historic & Specimen Trees Program is a great way to apply a legal protection to an important tree, just in case it’s necessary one day.
If you have a big, old tree in your yard, submit an application with the Metro Historic & Specimen Trees Program to get it protected! When a homeowner submits the application, the Metro Tree Advisory Committee will assess the tree size and significance and, if approved by the Metro Beautification and Environment Commission (MBEC), the restriction may become associated with the property. Once the tree is approved by MBEC, the owner may apply for a deed restriction on their property to ensure the tree is protected from removal, even if the property changes ownership.
It will then require committee approval to remove the tree in the future. This means a healthy, mature tree wouldn’t be able to be taken down by current and future property owners from removing the tree without a finding that it is a hazard or that it is not economically feasible to develop the parcel without removing the tree and the public and private benefits of that tree can be maintained as part of the landscape. All this protection is a result of a simple decision made by the current property owner.
Protect Old Trees in Nashville
Every old tree must grow from a young one, so if you have space to plant one or more trees, browse the Nashville Tree Conservation Corps’ tree sale for your property’s next specimen. Or you may donate a tree to be planted in an empty spot somewhere in Nashville. We don’t make any profits from the tree sale, so we rely on grants and donations from residents and businesses to fund our mission to support Nashville’s canopy, from planting trees and working with various stakeholders, to supporting legislation and sharing information about the needs of Nashville’s canopy. If you’re able to consider contributing, you can donate through our website. To stay updated on the latest events, subscribe to our newsletter!