In 2007 Mayor Greg Nickels issued his Urban Forest Management Plan challenging Seattle to address its shrinking urban forest canopy. Over the last thirty years tree canopy coverage has decreased to just 18%. The Mayor’s Plan proposes to increase canopy coverage back up to 30% over the next thirty years. This will require the planting of nearly 650,000 trees by public and private entities over that time period.
In order to achieve its goals, the Plan asks everyone in Seattle to become better tree stewards, including the City itself. City departments will review their tree care policies and update them if necessary to current best management practices. As part of that effort, DPD has undertaken an effort to review and revise the City’s tree protection and replacement regulations for private property.
DPD’s efforts began by taking comments received during the development of the Urban Forest Management Plan. We then established the Emerald City Task Force to provide early input and guidance as we began to critique our existing regulations and explore options for improving them. DPD staff is now developing policy proposals to share with tree and environmental advocacy groups, homeowners, developers, and all residents of Seattle. Over the next several months we will engage in conversations with these groups to revise and improve our proposals as we develop legislation to submit to City Council later this year.Please check this website frequently for new information or meeting notices, or sign up for the project’s mailing list to receive notices via email or mail.
