It's always better to beg forgiveness, that to ask for bureaucratic permission!!!
“It’s always better to beg forgiveness, that to ask for bureaucratic permission!!! “
...and generally an operation like Caltrans has a lot more to do than count trees. If they don’t expect an ‘extraction’, and if it’s done when they’re not on duty (say, on a Sunday morning), they probably will never pick up on it being done, particularly if it’s done clean and the stumps are immediately pulled and then filled in.