Challenging Texas Tree Cutting Restrictions: Respecting Private Property Rights

Abstract

Tree Cutting Law in Texas Trees are among the properties that any landowner deems his/hers when they are inside one's yard or land. It is, therefore, the right of the landowner to do whatever he/she wishes with any properties within his/her yard; trees being on the list. However, cutting down trees in Austin city is illegal, especially for the protected species like [City, State] Ash, and all Oaks, among others. Bans in cutting the protected species of trees regardless of whether the owner needs them in his/her yard feel like a violation of own property rights which is not among the best experiences one can engage in at any given time. I have been a victim of the law. It is quite sad to acknowledge that regardless of the value that the protected tree species may have to the Texas local government, the need to respect property rights is essential. It is no fan to have a thirty-year-old Oaktree in one's yard if it is of no value to the yard owner, which calls for a reconsideration of this law to allow for the exercise of private property rights at all times. I feel the need to clear the Oak tree in our compound without being forced to plant several other protected trees within our compound since it is private land. Just as Governor Abbott argued concerning this law, it is unfortunate for the local government to formulate and enforce ordinances that violate or ignore the right to private property power. Based on his speech, the governor critiqued this law upon denials to cut down a pecan tree in his yard without planting additional trees, pointing out that "I saw firsthand how my own private property rights were being mowed down by these regulations” (Duehren, 2017)....