There is no single land clearing permit in either state. What exists is a set of separate regimes — construction stormwater, floodplain, regulated drains, burning, and municipal tree and grading rules — each administered by a different office, each triggered by something different, and only one of them triggered by acreage.
That is why 'do I need a permit' so often produces a confident wrong answer. A neighbour who cleared four acres and needed stormwater coverage, and a neighbour who cleared half an acre inside city limits and needed a tree permit, are both telling you the truth about a different regime.
This page sets out what is known: the acreage threshold in each state, the offices that decide in the counties this region covers, and — just as importantly — where the honest answer is that we do not know and you have to ask.
Indiana: one acre, and the programme name changed
In Indiana, construction activity that disturbs one acre or more of total land area requires coverage under the state Construction Stormwater General Permit, administered by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. Clearing, grading and excavation are named as construction activity for this purpose, so clearing alone can trigger it.
The programme name is worth getting right, because a great deal of older advice is still circulating under the previous one. Indiana stopped administering the construction stormwater programme under Rule 5 on 18 December 2021; coverage is now issued under the Construction Stormwater General Permit. If a contractor, a form or a web page is still talking about a Rule 5 permit, that is a sign the material has not been revisited in some years.
The one-acre figure is a total, not a single continuous patch, and it counts land that forms part of a larger common plan of development. Two half-acre openings on the same project are not automatically two separate small jobs.
A 2025 change to what a county may require
Indiana House Enrolled Act 1037 took effect on 1 May 2025 and constrains local construction stormwater ordinances: in general a local law, ordinance or regulation cannot be more stringent than the requirements of IDEM's construction stormwater general permit.
For a landowner this cuts both ways and is worth knowing before a conversation rather than after one. It does not remove the county from the process, and it does not touch the other regimes on this page — floodplain, regulated drains, burning and municipal tree rules are separate authorities and are unaffected. What it means is that if a local requirement and the state permit appear to disagree about construction stormwater, that is a question worth asking rather than simply complying with the stricter reading.
Kentucky: the same threshold, a different permit
Across the river the threshold is the same and the instrument is different. Kentucky's construction stormwater coverage is issued under KYR10, the state's Pollutant Discharge Elimination System general permit for construction, and eligibility applies to sites disturbing one acre or more — including sites that are part of a common development plan where the cumulative disturbance reaches an acre.
Local administration matters here. In Henderson, local coverage is obtained through Henderson Water Utility rather than only at state level, so a project inside that service area has a local step as well as a state one.
Which office decides, county by county
Vanderburgh County administers construction site runoff control, and the county's erosion and sediment control ordinance requires control measures to be in place before land-disturbing activity begins. That is the office to ask for parcels in the county, including inside Evansville.
Warrick County runs a stormwater department that takes enquiries and complaints about construction site erosion, and the Town of Newburgh separately administers stormwater and MS4 responsibilities inside its own boundaries.
For Gibson and Posey counties, no published construction stormwater or land disturbance page was established when this guide was compiled. That is recorded here as unknown rather than filled in with a plausible-sounding office name: ask the county's planning, building or surveyor's office directly, and expect to be redirected once.
In Kentucky, Henderson Water Utility is the local route for stormwater construction coverage in Henderson. For Daviess County and Owensboro the local administering office was not established here, and the same advice applies — ask, do not assume.
What acreage does not settle
Falling under the threshold is not the same as being unregulated, and this is where owners are most often caught out. Floodplain status, wetlands, a regulated drain easement crossing the ground, a burn ban, a municipal tree ordinance inside city limits, and a recorded easement all operate independently of how many acres are being cleared.
A regulated drain is the most common of these in this region and the least expected: a ditch can run through ground on your deed, carry a county easement either side, and still not be yours to alter. That is a separate authority — the county drainage board — and a separate conversation.
The practical sequence is therefore: establish the acreage, then establish the ground. Neither answer covers the other.
Whose job this is
The determination for your parcel is made by a county office, not by a contractor and not by a website. This page names the offices and the thresholds; it does not tell you what your property requires, and nobody who has not looked at your parcel can.
A contractor worth hiring raises the question early, unprompted, and is comfortable being asked what they think applies and why. One who tells you not to worry about it, before knowing the acreage or the ground, has told you something useful about how they work.
Timing
When to ask for estimates
- After the total disturbed acreage is settled, since it decides whether a stormwater regime applies at all.
- After the county has been asked, because control measures and a plan can be a real line item rather than an afterthought.
- Ask whether erosion control, seeding and any plan preparation are inside the quote or outside it.
Send the project details when it is — one short form, written for independent contractors working your county, free and with no obligation.
On the walkthrough
Questions worth asking
- What total acreage do you think this job disturbs, counting everything?
- Have you worked in this county before, and who did you deal with?
- Is erosion and sediment control inside your price or outside it?
- What do you do if we find a regulated drain or floodplain line partway through?
- Who is responsible for obtaining any coverage that turns out to be needed — you or me?
Questions
Common questions on this
Do I need a permit to clear land in Vanderburgh County?
That is decided by the county, not by us, and it depends on your parcel. What can be said generally is that in Indiana a total land disturbance of one acre or more requires coverage under the state Construction Stormwater General Permit, and that Vanderburgh County administers construction site runoff control with an ordinance expecting erosion and sediment control measures to be in place before disturbance begins. Below an acre, floodplain, regulated drain, burning and city tree rules can still apply. Ask the county before work starts.
Is it still called a Rule 5 permit?
No. Indiana stopped administering the construction stormwater programme under Rule 5 on 18 December 2021, and coverage is now issued under the Construction Stormwater General Permit. The old name is still widely repeated, which is a reasonable signal that whatever you are reading has not been checked recently.
My job is well under an acre. Does that mean no permits at all?
It means the state construction stormwater threshold is not met. It does not mean the ground is unregulated. Floodplain status, wetlands, a regulated drain easement, an active burn ban and municipal tree or grading rules inside city limits all operate independently of acreage, and any of them can apply to a small job.
Is Kentucky different from Indiana?
The threshold is the same — one acre or more, including cumulative disturbance under a common development plan — but the permit is Kentucky's KYR10 rather than Indiana's. Local administration also differs: in Henderson, coverage is obtained through Henderson Water Utility as well as at state level.
Can you tell me what my property needs?
No, and neither can any contractor before looking at it. We are a matching service, not a permitting authority, and the determination belongs to a county office. What this page does is name the thresholds and the offices so that the call you make is a short one.
Keep planning
Related planning guides
- Regulated drains and drainage districtsA regulated drain runs through private property but is not privately controlled, and that distinction catches owners out constantly.
- Clearing on floodplain groundFloodplain status affects what you can do with cleared ground far more than it affects the clearing itself.
- What happens before clearing startsEverything expensive about clearing is decided before the machine arrives, not while it is running.
- Converting land between agricultural usesConversion is defined by the finish standard, and the finish standard is set by the machinery that will run on it.
- Clearing a wooded residential lotOn a bounded lot, access and disposal drive the price — the vegetation itself is often the smaller part.
Everything else is in the planning workspace.
Get it quoted
Services this relates to
Ground like this around:
Evansville Mulching is a free matching service, not a contractor. Nothing on this page is a determination about your property — a contractor standing on the ground is the only person who can make one.
Covering 10 towns across the Evansville tri-state area, and all 14 services.