Tree work rules in Oregon

Oregon licenses tree work through the Oregon Landscape Contractors Board and the Construction Contractors Board. An LCB license covers all tree work, with an optional arborist phase, and a CCB license also allows removal, stump grinding and guying but not planting.¹

Oregon law bars local rules on forest practices on forestland outside urban growth boundaries. City tree ordinances inside those boundaries aren't limited.²

If a tree is touching the power line to your house, keep clear and call your utility first. Clearing the line is the utility's job, and a tree company can't start until it's done.

In Oregon, work within 10 feet of lines over 600 volts has to be guarded under OR-OSHA rules. If the utility got advance notice, a violator's liability is limited to comparative fault.³

Oregon's one-call law doesn't name stump or root removal. It treats any movement of earth by any means as excavation, and stump work isn't exempted.³

Spraying or treating trees for hire needs an Oregon Department of Agriculture Commercial Pesticide Applicator license, working for a licensed Commercial Pesticide Operator. The category is Ornamental and Turf, with Herbicide and Insecticide/Fungicide subcategories.⁴