Miami Canopy WatchTree Permit Transparency
OverviewMap(desktop)PermitsAppealsSpeciesAbout
Tracking the City of Miami's tree permit pipeline

Miami's tree canopy is being permitted away, one folio at a time.

A public dashboard of tree permits sourced from the City of Miami's published Intended Decisions and the iBuild permit portal — with automated appeal deadline tracking updated every 12 hours.

Track active appeals Open the map Search permitsHow this is built
Source
miami.gov + iBuild
Permit years
BD20 → BD26
Auto-sync
Every 12 hours
Live data
Updated June 2026

Sample record · iBuild

Process NumberBD26-009659-001
Property Address3101 GRAND AVE
Folio Number01-4121-030-0020
Job CategoryTREE PERMIT
Plan StatusApplicant Upload — Waiting
Work items: PRIVATE PROPERTY TREE ROOT PRUNING; PRIVATE PROPERTY TREE TRIMMING
Linked Demo PermitBD25-018004-001
Linked New ConstructionBD25-020759-001

Every dot on the map starts as a record like this — pulled from the city's public permit portal, parsed, and joined to property and species data.

By the numbers

A live snapshot of the dataset. Each card links the underlying records — same shape the city's portal returns, just legible.

Tree permits tracked
172
100 involve removal
Active appeal windows
22
Permits you can still contest
Specimen-tree removals
59
78 specimen trees in dataset (DBH ≥ 18 in.)
Linked to development
52
Permits with concurrent demo or new construction

Removals by neighborhood

  • Coconut Grove28
  • Brickell10
  • Allapattah8
  • Wynwood7
  • Little Havana7
  • Edgewater6

Permit pipeline

Of 172 tree permits in the system, 75 have been approved or issued, while only 16 have been denied.

For comparison, New York City maintains a public map of every street tree — species, condition, and planting date. Miami currently does not. The CRC formally requested this data on April 29, 2026 and was given a generic i-Tree dashboard with no permit records.

75
Approved / Issued
81
In progress
16
Denied

Specimen-tree removals

Trees the city is letting go.

Specimen trees — the largest, oldest, most ecologically significant — flagged for removal in active permit applications. These are not replaceable in our lifetimes.

View all removals
  • BD26-005555-001

    Geiger Tree

    Cordia sebestena

    In Review
    2451 NW 37 Ave· Liberty City
    DBH
    20″
    Age
    ~35 yr
    Spread
    48 ft
    Filed 2026-05-09
  • BD26-006311-001

    Mahogany

    Swietenia mahagoni

    In Review
    601 NE 1 Ave· Edgewater
    DBH
    26″
    Age
    ~42 yr
    Spread
    60 ft
    Filed 2026-05-08Linked to construction
  • BD26-007634-001

    Live Oak

    Quercus virginiana

    Approved
    1401 Brickell Ave· Brickell
    DBH
    30″
    Age
    ~50 yr
    Spread
    70 ft
    Filed 2026-05-05
  • BD26-007821-001

    Mahogany

    Swietenia mahagoni

    Approved
    1234 Brickell Ave· Brickell
    DBH
    28″
    Age
    ~44 yr
    Spread
    62 ft
    Filed 2026-04-30Linked to construction
  • BD26-005933-001

    Live Oak

    Quercus virginiana

    Approved
    3100 NE 2 Ave· Little River
    DBH
    32″
    Age
    ~55 yr
    Spread
    74 ft
    Filed 2026-04-29
  • BD26-008203-001

    Strangler Fig

    Ficus aurea

    Approved
    2701 S Bayshore Dr· Coconut Grove
    DBH
    26″
    Age
    ~48 yr
    Spread
    64 ft
    Filed 2026-04-28Linked to construction

Why this exists

Trees are public infrastructure. Permit data should be too.

On April 29, 2026 the City of Miami's Charter Review Commission formally requested every tree permit ever issued by the city. They were sent a generic i-Tree dashboard with no permit records. This dashboard exists because that one does not.

  • Heat

    Tree canopy can drop neighborhood surface temperatures by 10–25°F. Block by block, removals are pushing Miami’s heat index higher in exactly the neighborhoods that can least afford air conditioning.

  • Flooding

    A single mature live oak intercepts thousands of gallons of stormwater per year. Replacing one with a coconut palm replaces less than a fifth of that capacity, on a sea-level-rise coastline.

  • Hurricane resilience

    Native Florida species — gumbo limbo, mahogany, live oak — are the most wind-resistant and the most often cleared for redevelopment. Their replacements are typically less storm-tolerant, not more.

  • Accountability

    Mitigation fines for removing a 200-year-old tree run a few thousand dollars on a project earning millions. As neighbors testified to the CRC: the fines are a line item, not a deterrent.

Get involved

You have 10 days to appeal. We track every one of them.

Our appeal tracker syncs with the City of Miami every 12 hours. Search any address, see active deadlines, and show up to public meetings with the data already in hand.

Track active appeals Open interactive map Search permit database
Miami Canopy Watch

An independent, public-facing dashboard built to surface what is happening to the City of Miami's tree canopy. Powered by the city's own permit data — made legible.

Explore

  • Interactive map
  • Permit database
  • Species guide
  • About

Sources

  • City of Miami permit portal
  • ePlan naming conventions

Made possible by Serpens Inc. — for the civic infrastructure for Miami.

This is an independent project. Not affiliated with the City of Miami.