You can own a lakefront lot on Norris and still not own the last strip of ground at the water — and even where you do own it, TVA may hold rights over what grows there. Homeowners ask us about this on nearly every shoreline job we quote. This page is the plain-English version of the rules, with links to where TVA says each thing itself.
One thing up front: we are a tree crew, not a law office. The rules below are quoted from TVA’s own pages and the federal regulations behind them, but your lot is its own case. When it matters, confirm with TVA before anyone cuts.
Why TVA has a say at the water
Norris is a TVA reservoir — the agency’s first, and it still runs the lake for flood control. Norris has 809 miles of shoreline and 33,840 acres of water surface, and in a year with normal rainfall the water level varies about 29 feet from summer to winter to provide seasonal flood storage. That drawdown is why the bank you stand on in July is a long exposed slope in January — and it is one reason we look at lakefront trees in person before quoting them.
Who actually owns the bank
Around Norris, TVA still owns a great deal of the shoreland outright. On other stretches the land is private but TVA holds a flowage easement — a purchased right to flood the land and limit what is built or grown on it. So a property line and the edge of what a homeowner controls are often not the same line down at the water.
Which side of that line your trees stand on decides everything below. It is the first thing worth finding out, and TVA’s shoreline construction FAQ explains how to ask.
The two kinds of shoreline, and why it matters
On TVA-owned land, the rule is short: written approval from TVA is always needed to trim or remove any vegetation. There is no separate vegetation permit to apply for — a Vegetation Management Plan is submitted as part of a Section 26a application, the same permit that covers docks and other shoreline alterations, and no cutting is approved until TVA approves that plan.
On private land under a flowage easement, federal regulation says removal, modification, or establishment of vegetation generally does not require TVA approval. The easement is about flooding and structures; the trees are generally the owner’s call.
What the rules allow on TVA land
The details live in 18 CFR Part 1304, the regulation TVA permits under. For residential shoreline, the short version:
- An access corridor up to 20 feet wide may be approved from your property down to the water, and side limbs reaching into that corridor from trees outside it may be pruned.
- Within the 50-foot Shoreline Management Zone along the water, no trees may be cut and no vegetation removed except what TVA preapproves inside that corridor.
- Above that zone, selective thinning of trees under three inches in diameter at ground level is allowed — and even the “allowed” items require TVA’s advance written permission first.
- Invasive understory — poison ivy, Japanese honeysuckle, kudzu and other listed exotics — may be cleared.
- On lawns grandfathered from before November 1999, mowing may continue, but trees over three inches in diameter still may not come out.
If a number sticks from this page, make it that one: on TVA ground, three inches at ground level is where “brush” ends and “tree that stays” begins.
What about opening up a view?
This is the question behind most shoreline calls, and the honest answer is that the regulations grant no homeowner right to clear for a view. View work on TVA land happens, when it happens, inside a TVA-approved plan — and what TVA approves is thinning, not clearing.
What we actually do on view jobs is mostly on the homeowner’s side of the line anyway: raising the canopy, taking low limbs, opening the sightline while the trunks and crowns stay put. We have reopened a water view in Jacksboro that way, raised a canopy over a lakeside parking spot, and opened a view while a poplar came out whole — trimming on the owner’s ground, guidelines respected at the water.
How we work lakefront jobs
We look before we quote. On a bank lot that look includes where the boundary runs, where a lift can sit against the drawdown slope, and which trees are actually the owner’s to cut. We work Norris Lake shoreline from Sharps Chapel to Norris, and if part of a job would need TVA’s sign-off, we say so at the estimate rather than after the saw is out. Call 865-360-6685 and tell us what you are looking at.
Quick questions
Can I clear trees on the bank for a lake view?
Not on TVA land, and not without asking. On TVA-owned shoreline every cut needs written approval, and approvals run to thinning small growth, not clearing. On your own land under a flowage easement, the trees are generally your call.
Do I need TVA’s permission to trim anything at all?
On TVA property, yes — TVA’s own FAQ says written approval is always needed to trim or remove any vegetation there. The request rides along with a Section 26a application.
Who do I call first — TVA or a tree service?
Either works. If you call us first, we will tell you at the estimate which parts of the job sit on which side of the line — and which parts need TVA before anyone touches them.