The Oakland City Council adopted the Urban Forest Plan at a Special City Council meeting on Monday, December 16, 2024. Thank you to the many organizations and individuals who played a part in crafting the Urban Forest Plan, and those who came out to support it on 12/10/24 and 12/16/24. The legislation is available on the City Council meeting website.
The Urban Forest Plan was presented at the December 10, 2024, Public Works & Transportation Committee meeting before being adopted on consent by the City Council the following week. The December 10, 2024, Public Works & Transportation Committee meeting recording is available from KTOP and the presentation made during the meeting is available in the "Documents" section towards the bottom of the page.
The Urban Forest Plan outlines strategies based on community desires, collected data, and industry best practices to support Oakland's urban forest's long-term health and improvement.
Purpose of the Plan
1. Develop a maintenance plan and budget to care for all trees growing on City-owned property.
2. Create a data-driven process for growing equitable tree canopy so that all Oaklanders can share the benefits of trees.
3. Meet an objective of Oakland's Equitable Climate Action Plan to develop an urban forest plan.
4. Enable the City to be better prepared to pursue a variety of external funding opportunities, like the $8 million Federal grant the City was awarded this September.
Background
The development of the Plan was made possible by a grant from the California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) funded by California Climate Investments, approved by City Council Resolution 87388 in 2018. This grant also enabled the completion of a street and landscaped park tree inventory, and the planting of 700 trees in flatland communities. A series of reports and analyses listed in the project documents section below were completed to provide baseline information for making informed, data-driven decisions.
Please note that the Urban Forest Plan differs from the Vegetation Management Plan, which is managed by the Oakland Fire Department and focuses on the reduction of fire hazards.
Definition of Key Terms
- Urban Forest: All trees growing in Oakland
- Street Trees: All trees growing along sidewalks
- Public Trees: All trees growing on City-owned land, including street trees
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Oakland's Trees in the News:
- Oakland is getting $8M to plant trees across the city
- Bay Area Cities to Get Millions for Trees in Disadvantaged Areas
- Urban Heat Island Effect: What It Is and What We Can Do to Fix It
- Want more trees in your neighborhood? Take this city survey
- Oakland's trees are dying faster than they can be planted, despite community efforts
