In September 2004 the TUFC Board of Directors approved the addition of a Heritage Tree category for recognition that would be separate from the Landmark and Historic Tree Register. 

Qualifications for Heritage Trees:

• Provide a unique glimpse into the past, either culturally or historically
• Dead, but provide historical or cultural significance deserving remembrance for future generation
• Significant to the above arguments but do not meet the qualifications on landmark and historic trees

Examples:

Thong trees. These trees were manipulated by early American Indians to point out landmarks for future travelers.

Dead, historically significant trees: 

• Pemberton Oak of Bristol
• Watauga Treaty tree of Elizabethton
• Chickasaw Treaty Oak of Nashville
• Rockwood Toll Oak of Rockwood

Rationale:

Dead heritage trees would provide documentation of Tennessee's history and the research of such trees would be as extensive as the historical qualifiers on the current register. Living heritage trees would provide documentation of general cultural or historic value and might no relate to a particular event or person. In all cases, the heritage tree list would provide us a means to recognize those unique trees that otherwise might be forgotten, or lost in obscurity.