Urban Forestry

See some photos from the Earth Gay landscape restoration on Westlake Ave N. on April 22

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) Urban Forestry section’s  mission is to administer, maintain, protect, and expand the City's urban landscape in street right-of-ways for Seattle's residents and businesses so that economic, environmental, safety and aesthetic benefits are maximized.

Our goals are to:  Preserve trees through effective regulation of removals, expand the canopy by planting new trees with funds provided by the Bridging the Gap initiative passed by voters in 2006, encouraging residents and businesses to plant new trees, and ensuring that new developments comply with codes requiring tree planting and landscaping.

Urban Forestry provides the following services for activities in the right-of-way:

• Planting, pruning and removal permits
• Tree inspections
• Tree planting
• Street tree maintenance
• Landscape maintenance
• Landscape architectural design
• Landscape design review
• Inspection related to tree preservation and protection at construction sites

Urban Forestry consists of the City Arborist Unit, the Landscape Architect Unit, and the Field Operations Unit.

Click here to see the update about the proposed Draft Street Tree Ordinance