How to Check if a Maryland Tree Company Is Actually Licensed

Ellicott City Tree Care · Updated August 2026 · 7 min read

Tree work is one of the more dangerous trades in the country, and it's sold door to door after every storm by people who bought a saw last week. Maryland has had a licensing law for this since 1945, specifically as consumer protection. Most homeowners have never heard of it.

What the license is

The Licensed Tree Expert (LTE) is issued by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Forest Service under the Natural Resources Article, Title 5, Subtitle 4. The core rule, from § 5-417: “A person may not engage in the work or business of a tree expert without a license issued under the provisions of this part.”

Getting one isn't a formality. An applicant must be 18 or older and either hold two years of approved college-level forestry or arboriculture education plus a year of supervised experience, or have three or more years of continuous practice — then pass a DNR exam. Licenses run two years, renew by January 31, and require eight continuing-education units per cycle. Proof of liability and property damage insurance is required before DNR issues the license.

The part almost everyone gets wrong

Ask around and you'll hear that the license only matters for roadside and right-of-way trees. That's wrong, and it's a costly thing to believe.

The LTE requirement applies to treatment, care, or removal of trees for compensation — diagnosis, trimming, pruning, thinning, cabling, shaping, crown reduction, removal. There is no private-property carve-out. DNR's own materials describe the law as licensing work on private or public Maryland property alike.

The real exemptions are narrow: commercial logging and timber harvesting, underground utility installation, and — the one that generates the confusion — trees 20 feet tall or less. That's the actual line. Not “your yard versus the road.” A 70-foot oak in a Columbia backyard requires an LTE exactly as much as a tree on Route 108 does.

Roadside trees stack a second requirement on top: work on a tree growing wholly or partly in a public right-of-way also needs a Roadside Tree Permit from the DNR Forest Service. That's a permit in addition to the license, not an alternative to it.

The 30-second red flag test

Here's the most useful thing on this page. Maryland law (§ 5-423(c)) requires that any advertisement for tree services include either:

• the license number, formatted “Licensed Tree Expert No. ___” or “L.T.E. No. ___”, or
• a statement that all tree services are limited to trees 20 feet tall or less

So look at the flyer on your door, the truck door, the yard sign, the website. Neither of those present? The advertisement doesn't comply with Maryland law — which tells you something before you've made a single phone call.

Related: Maryland restricts the titles “arborist,” “tree surgeon,” and “tree specialist” to licensees. Someone calling themselves an arborist without a license is making a claim the state doesn't back.

Verify it yourself, free

DNR runs a public lookup:

webapps02.dnr.state.md.us/Forestry_Website/Forestry_Parser.aspx?ParserValue=Forestry_LTE

Search by company name, county, last name, or LTE number. Two things to know when you read the result. First, DNR requires a current Certificate of Insurance on file for a licensee to appear — so an absence can mean lapsed insurance rather than no license, and either way it's a question to ask. Second, licenses are held by individuals, so search the person as well as the business if the company name doesn't return anything.

If the database is ambiguous, DNR's Licensed Tree Expert program can be reached at (410) 260-8521.

What to ask for before work starts

DNR's own consumer guidance is sensible and short:

• Ask to see the Tree Expert license card — and call DNR if anything seems off
• Demand a current certificate of insurance, covering liability and workers' compensation. This one matters more than people realize: an uninsured worker injured in your tree can become your problem
• Get a written contract covering scope, timeline, price, and cleanup — cleanup especially, since haul-away is often a separate line item
• Get multiple written estimates
• Be wary of door-to-door solicitation, which spikes after every storm
• Avoid anyone promoting tree topping — it's a discredited practice that damages the tree and creates future hazards
• Never prepay in full

Worth knowing if you've already hired someone unlicensed: Maryland law does not penalize the tree owner who hired them. The penalty falls on the contractor. DNR describes a first offense for unlicensed tree work as a misdemeanor carrying a fine up to $500. Unpermitted roadside tree work is treated far more seriously, with statutory penalties running into the thousands.

The reason to care isn't the fine, though. It's that a $500 exposure isn't much deterrent to someone dropping a 60-foot oak next to your roof with no insurance behind them. If it goes wrong, you're the one holding it.

Getting quotes? Run every company you're considering through the DNR lookup first — ours included. Then call us for a free written estimate anywhere in Howard County: 410-826-9006.