Oakland Urban Forest Plan Community Engagement
Oakland Urban Forest Plan Community Engagement
FYI - This page will be expiring in summer 2023. Please visit and bookmark the Urban Forest Plan project page on the City's website for updated information.
Oakland's urban forest is the collection of privately- and publicly-owned trees and woody shrubs that grow within the city. Oakland’s "community trees" are a subset of the urban forest and consist of trees on publicly-owned lands and rights-of-way including on streets, in city parks, and at city-owned facilities. To better understand both the urban forest and community tree resource, the City obtained a grant from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), as part of the California Climate Investments Program, and was approved by City Council Resolution No. 87388 C.M.S.
In 2019, Oakland contracted with Davey Resource Group, Inc. to complete a land cover assessment, community tree inventory, inventory analysis, socioeconomic and public health analysis (as it relates to tree canopy), ordinance revision, and an Urban Forest Plan. In 2020, Oakland also contracted with Fair Forests Consulting, LLC to better address environmental justice in the context of the urban forest and to apply equity-based research in community engagement. In the community tree inventory, the City of Oakland inventoried all trees growing on sidewalks, medians, and landscaped parks. This is a common practice in many cities worldwide, as it provides data on how to best manage a city's trees. Data collected includes the size, species, and location of each tree. The results will inform the project's equitable community outreach campaign.
Your input in this process will help guide the development of revised policies, procedures, and the vision for the future urban forest.
The draft Oakland Urban Forest Plan (formerly known as the Urban Forest Master Plan) is expected in late summer 2023. Please subscribe for updates to be notified when the draft is available.
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Oakland trees in the news: our grant-related tree planting at De Fremery Park in West Oakland was featured in NBC Bay Area news piece on urban heat island effect.
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Check out the Explore Oakland's Urban Forest section for reports and other information associated with the project.
The project completion date is Spring 2023. Deliverables include:
- Tree Canopy and Land Cover Assessment
- Community tree inventory and Resource Analysis
- Interactive web-based tools to explore the community tree resource
- TreeKeeper Canopy
- Storymap
- Updated Ordinance language for Chapter 12.32 - Street Trees and Shrubs
- Urban Forest Council District Summary Report
- Urban Forest Plan
Funding for this project was provided by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection as part of the California Climate Investments Program.
For additional project information, please reach out to the Urban Forestry Project Coordinator at (510) 615-5407 or gmatassa@oaklandca.gov.