FEMA debris removal and hazardous trees: what the federal rules and the debris guide say about hangers, leaners and stumps

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It reports the wording that decides whether a public agency's debris work can be paid by FEMA's Public Assistance program. It is not about how to judge a tree.

The tree criteria below are taken from the text of FEMA's Debris Management Guide 325 as the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection hosts it, and from a federal board decision of June 30, 2014 that quotes the same guide.

The law

Section 5173 of title 42 of the United States Code says the President, when he determines it is in the public interest, may clear debris and wreckage from a major disaster off publicly and privately owned land and water, or make grants to a State or local government, or to a private nonprofit facility owner, to do it. The same section says none of this authority is used until the State or local government has arranged an unconditional authorization for the removal from public and private property. For private property it must also agree to indemnify the Federal Government against claims arising from the removal. Subsection (d) sets the federal share at not less than 75 percent of the eligible cost.

Under 44 CFR 206.224, the Regional Administrator may give assistance when removal is in the public interest. The regulation lists four cases, and the first two are eliminating immediate threats to life, public health and safety, and eliminating immediate threats of significant damage to improved public or private property. For private property, the regulation says clearance of the living, recreational and working area is eligible, except areas used for crops and livestock or unused areas. It also says no assistance goes directly to an individual or private organization, or to an applicant for reimbursing one, for removing debris from their own property. Private nonprofit organizations running eligible facilities are the stated exception.

Under 44 CFR 206.225, emergency protective measures to save lives, protect public health and safety and protect improved property are eligible. They must eliminate or lessen an immediate threat to life, health or safety, or an immediate threat of significant added damage to improved property through cost effective measures.

What Guide 325 says about trees

The Connecticut copy of the guide is introduced as text taken directly from FEMA's Debris Management Guide. It says determining eligibility for hazardous trees and stumps is challenging and that FEMA set criteria based on objective information that can be collected in the field.

Hazardous tree

The guide calls a tree hazardous when its condition was caused by the disaster, it is an immediate threat to lives, public health and safety or improved property, and its diameter at breast height is six inches or greater. On top of those, at least one of four conditions must be met: more than 50 percent of the crown is damaged or destroyed, the trunk is split or branches are broken so that heartwood shows, the tree has fallen or been uprooted in a public-use area, or it leans at an angle greater than 30 degrees. A hazardous tree with less than 50 percent of its root ball exposed is to be cut flush at ground level, and the guide says grinding that stump afterwards is not eligible work. It names removing the tree and stump for two separate unit costs as an example of an ineligible costing method. It also says straightening and bracing can be reimbursed when cheaper than removal, and that a braced tree is not eligible for removal if it later dies.

Hanging limbs

For hangers, the guide requires the limb to be on improved public property, to be greater than two inches in diameter at the point of breakage, and to remain in the tree while threatening a public-use area such as a trail, sidewalk or golf cart path. Only the minimum work needed to remove the hazard is eligible, and pruning, maintenance trimming and landscaping are not. The guide says all hazardous limbs in one tree should be cut at the same time and not in passes by size, that work on hangers in a tree already scheduled for removal is not eligible, and that cutting at the closest main branch junction may be an eligible scope while taking the whole branch back to the trunk may not be. A tree on private land whose canopy extends over a public right-of-way can qualify only for the limbs that extend over that right-of-way.

Stumps

A stump can be paid for by the unit only if it meets all four tests: 50 percent or more of the root ball is exposed, it is greater than 24 inches in diameter measured 24 inches above the ground, it is on improved public property or a public right-of-way, and it poses an immediate threat to life, public health and safety.

Documentation the guide lists

For grant consideration the guide lists four records: a description of the immediate threat, such as photos of hanging limbs or leaning trees; a clear scope of work to remove that threat; the improved public property location, by nearest building address or GPS location; and the date, labor type (force account or contract) and equipment used. For an uprooted stump removed before approval, it lists photographs and GPS coordinates, the specifics of the threat, the stump diameter 24 inches from the ground, and the quantity of material needed to fill the hole.

What an audit looked like

In CBCA 3608-FEMA, decided June 30, 2014, a panel of the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals heard Livingston Parish, Louisiana, which asked for an additional US$59,183,143 for Hurricane Gustav debris work. US$14,096,899 of that was for pruning or removing trees hanging or leaning over public areas or improved property. The decision says the parish's contractors made about 88,000 cuts on 16,000 trees that monitors judged to be leaners or hangers, documented with tree tickets, diaries and photographs.

The decision reports several reviews of that paperwork with different results. FEMA's first review of 20 percent of it found 34 percent of leaners and 16 percent of hangers qualified. The parish's monitoring engineers found 89 percent eligible, and the decision notes FEMA's policy of paying all the work when 80 percent or more is eligible. FEMA's second review found 19 percent of leaners and 13 percent of hangers eligible, and the state legislative auditor found 7 percent of photographs consistent with FEMA guidance. A licensed arborist hired by FEMA reviewed 16,000 photographs and found about 5 percent of each group met the requirements. The panel found that analysis compelling. It said much of the parish's data did not show that cuts were on public property or over a right-of-way, that Gustav caused the damage, that trunks or cuts met the minimum diameters, or that breaks were present on the cut branches. It concluded FEMA's grant for leaners and hangers was already more generous than the documentation supports and affirmed FEMA's determinations.

The terms side by side

Limits of this page

It lists no unit prices or contract terms. It reports eligibility wording for public applicants and does not say how any tree should be assessed: that question is covered on the dead and hazard trees page and the dead branches and hangers page. Which disasters bring Public Assistance is on the declarations table.

Sources

• Connecticut DEEP, FEMA 325 Debris Management Guide, vegetative debris eligibility (PDF, copy of FEMA text), read October 9, 2026
• Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, CBCA 3608-FEMA, In the Matter of Livingston Parish, June 30, 2014 (PDF), read October 9, 2026
• eCFR, 44 CFR 206.224 Debris removal, read October 9, 2026
• eCFR, 44 CFR 206.225 Emergency work, read October 9, 2026
• govinfo, 42 U.S.C. 5173 Debris removal (2023 edition), read October 9, 2026