Oakland Urban Forest Master Plan Community Engagement
Oakland Urban Forest Master Plan Community Engagement
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 in 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 Master 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 is inventorying all trees growing on sidewalks, medians, and landscaped parks. This is a common practice in many cities across the world, as it provides data on how to best manage a city's trees. Data collected includes 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, processes, and the vision for the future urban forest.
The project completion date is Spring 2022. Deliverables include:
- Tree Canopy and Land Cover Assessment
- Community tree inventory and Resource Analysis
- Interactive web-based tools to explore the community tree resource
- Canopy Keeper
- Storymap
- Updated Ordinance language for Chapter 12.32 - Street Trees and Shrubs
- Socioeconomic and Public Health Analysis
- Urban Forest Master Plan
Funding for this project was provided by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection as part of the California Climate Investments Program.
