Trees on the Old Hickory Lake Shoreline: What the Corps Allows Before Anyone Cuts or Prunes

Old Hickory Lake bends along the south side of Sumner County, and much of the land at its edge belongs to the public, not to the houses above it. The Corps of Engineers' Nashville District manages that shoreline under a Shoreline Management Plan dated November 2020 and approved that December, and its vegetation rules are strict: on public land, cutting a tree more than one inch in diameter at the base is prohibited. Owners in Gallatin and Hendersonville who hire a crew for lakefront work need to know where their own land stops before any saw starts.

This guide sets out what the 2020 plan says about trees, brush, mowing, dead and hazardous trees, and the permits involved, with the numbers quoted from the plan and from the Corps' published responses to public comments during the 2019 review. It is a summary, not legal advice. The Resource Manager's office for the lake, in Hendersonville, holds the allocation maps and has the final word on any request. Work entirely on the private side of the line follows the ordinary rules covered on the rest of this site.

Where private land ends and Corps land begins

The lake is large. At its normal pool elevation of 445 feet above mean sea level it covers 22,500 acres and has 440 miles of shoreline, and the power pool is held within a three-foot band between 442 and 445 feet. Around that water, the government acquired land by metes and bounds, using the surveys, deeds, title data, maps and topography available at the time, so the distance from the property line to the shore changes with the terrain. On one lot the line may sit near the water; on the next it may be well up the slope.

The Corps describes a well-marked, accurate public property line around the entire lake, marked with trees, shrubs or 4x4 posts at the corners, and it re-marks a section of the line every year. There is no setback from that line at Old Hickory Lake. Before any new permit for use of public land is issued, the line must be clearly identified, and if it is not, a new owner has to provide a surveyor's stake survey. For tree work the practical rule is simple: find the markers first, and treat everything on the lake side as public until the Resource Manager says otherwise.

Shoreline allocations: where a permit is possible at all

The 2020 plan divides the shoreline into allocations, and the allocation decides whether any vegetation work can be permitted. About 50 percent of the lake's shoreline is Limited Development Area, the only allocation where mowing and private dock privileges may be granted. About 36 percent is Protected Shoreline Area, kept to retain the natural, undeveloped character of the shore and protect fish and wildlife habitat, and there no cutting of trees or shrubs and no underbrushing is allowed. About 14 percent is Public Recreation Area. Environmental Restoration and Conservation Areas carry their own ban on vegetation alteration and tree cutting.

The allocation maps are kept at the Resource Manager's office and provided on request, so an owner cannot assume that a neighbor's permit means the same privileges apply next door. A crew asked to thin, limb or clear toward the water should see the allocation and any permit in writing before quoting the work, and a quote that skips the question is a warning sign in itself.

• Limited Development Area: about 50 percent of the shoreline; mowing and dock privileges possible
• Protected Shoreline Area: about 36 percent; no cutting of trees or shrubs, no underbrushing
• Public Recreation Area: about 14 percent
• Environmental Restoration and Conservation Areas: no vegetation alteration permits or tree cutting

What a vegetation alteration permit allows

In Limited Development Areas, adjoining private property owners may apply for a vegetation alteration permit for control of woodland understory vegetation: weeds, vines, briars and invasive plants. Mowing privileges come under a shoreline use permit, and the mowed area generally will not exceed 100 feet wide or half an acre, whichever is less. The Resource Manager may also authorize a meandering path, no more than four feet wide, to improve pedestrian access to the lake. Any public property damaged in the process of removing vegetation must be restored by the permittee.

The tree rules inside a permit are narrow. Cutting trees greater than one inch in diameter at the base is prohibited. Limbs may be trimmed up to one third of the height of the tree, not to exceed 12 feet, and trees cannot be topped. Herbicides require written permission in advance from the Resource Manager and must be applied by a commercial applicator holding the state's credentials. In practice that allows clearing privet, vines and briars and lifting low limbs off a path, and it leaves little room for opening a view through the canopy.

Pruning done within those limits should still follow good practice. ISA's guide to mature trees calls for cuts just outside the branch collar, never flush with the trunk, and no more than 25 percent of a crown removed at once. The Corps' comment responses also encourage unmowed vegetation buffers along the water as a no-cost alternative to riprap, which argues for raising a few limbs rather than clearing the bank. The pruning page covers the cut types in more detail.

• Trees over 1 inch in diameter at the base: no cutting on public land
• Limbing: up to one third of the tree's height, 12 feet at most, and no topping
• Mowing: generally no more than 100 feet wide or half an acre, whichever is less
• Path to the water: meandering, 4 feet wide at most, with the Resource Manager's approval

Dead, leaning and storm-thrown trees on public land

Storms along the lake do not change who owns the trees. Diseased or standing trees that pose a severe safety hazard can be removed only with prior approval, and the plan's rule is that whenever a standing tree is allowed to be removed, it must be replaced with trees of at least a two-inch base diameter. Normally a portion of the trunk will be left standing to provide habitat for wildlife and allow natural decay, so an approved hazard removal on the Corps strip often ends with a tall snag rather than a stump.

Some cleanup needs no permission at all: the plan states that permission is not required to remove drift, trash and other debris. Branches from a Corps tree that hang over private property can be trimmed at the property line rather than at the base of the tree. A tree that has already fallen onto the shore is worth confirming with the Resource Manager before it is cut up, since the plan treats standing trees and debris differently, and anything beyond that, including cutting a leaning live tree before it falls, starts with a call to the office.

Hazard work on public land is also where storm-season shortcuts cause the most trouble. Anyone offering to tidy up the lake side of a lot after a windstorm should be able to show the approval before cutting anything more than an inch across. The storm removal page covers the rest of the post-storm order, from calling the utility to photographing damage for the insurer.

Hiring a crew for lakefront trees

Most lakefront jobs split into two parts: trees in the private yard, which follow the ordinary rules, and anything on or over the Corps strip, which follows the plan. A quote should separate the two, name the permit or approval that covers the public side, and say where equipment will be staged, since ruts and dragged logs on public land count as damage the permittee must restore. Wood and brush from the private side should leave through the owner's lot rather than down the bank.

The ordinary checks still apply. ISA suggests looking the arborist up on its Find an Arborist platform, confirming the insurance certificate with the carrier, and comparing more than one written estimate. For stumps on the private side, the Tennessee 811 ticket comes three working days ahead like anywhere else in the county, and grinding a lakefront stump follows the same depth and rock rules. When the line is in doubt, a question to the Resource Manager's office in Hendersonville before the work costs nothing; restoring a bank and replanting after it does not.