Title
Review and Comment on the Urban Forest Plan and Implementation.
Body
CITY OF ALAMEDA
PLANNING BOARD
STAFF REPORT
ITEM 5-A
Review and Comment on the Urban Forest Plan and Implementation.
To: Honorable President and Members of the Planning Board
From: Danielle Mieler, Sustainability and Resilience Manager and Liz Acord, Public Works Coordinator
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report summarizes current efforts to update the Urban Forest Plan (UFP) and seeks feedback on the draft UFP vision, goals, and strategies, as well as direction on one of the three presented funding and canopy goal scenarios. The UFP will update the City’s existing 2010 Master Street Tree Plan (MSTP) and expand the scope to include park trees and trees on private and other non-City of Alameda properties.
BACKGROUND
In October 2022, the City Council approved entering into an agreement with Dudek (a national planning and engineering consulting firm) to prepare a comprehensive citywide Urban Forest Plan. An update and expansion of the 2010 Master Street Tree Plan as an Urban Forest Plan and expanding the urban forest was identified as an action item in the City’s Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (CARP) for the purpose of achieving goals related to carbon sequestration.
Trees provide many benefits to Alameda. Trees enhance the mental and physical health of city residents and beautify and define neighborhood characteristics. Trees enhance the environment by removing pollution and cleaning the air. Trees reduce stormwater runoff, improve water quality and support wildlife. As temperatures increase due to climate change, trees sequester carbon, provide shade, and reduce the surrounding air temperature and thus building energy consumption for cooling.
A healthy and robust urban forest requires continued long-term investment. The UFP will guide the City's operations and activities to expand and maintain the tree canopy for the next 10 years. The City’s Urban Forest Plan is intended to be strategic in advancing social equity and contributing to an improved quality of life by providing the benefits of urban tree canopy to all community members, which includes improvement of overall emotional and psychological health, and improvement of physical health.
The City of Alameda manages 25,962 park and street trees, consisting of 353 different species. The London plane sycamore is the most common City tree comprising 15.8% of the inventory. Many more trees are managed by private residents, businesses and other landowners. Citywide, the urban forest canopy (the layer of leaves, branches and stems that cover the ground when viewed from above) covers 11.2% of land across Alameda, ranging from 5.1% to 20.9% by census tract, with lower income census tracts generally having fewer trees. Alameda’s urban forest sequesters 447 tons on carbon annually, avoids 4 million gallons of stormwater runoff, and removes 8.8 tons of air pollution (ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter < 2.5 µm) annually.
A focus of the Urban Forest Plan is on creating a robust tree canopy that is equitably distributed across neighborhoods to create a healthier, more resilient community with enhanced environmental benefits.
DISCUSSION
The City of Alameda seeks to have a UFP that responds to the current and future needs and benefits for all residents of Alameda. The vision of the Urban Forest Plan is that Alameda’s urban forest is a collection of healthy, diverse, resilient trees supported by sustainable resources and management practices that enhance our quality of life, provide habitat for wildlife, and support adaptation to climate change for the benefit of all community members and generations to come. The draft UFP is available for public review at www.alamedaca.gov/UrbanForestPlan <http://www.alamedaca.gov/UrbanForestPlan>.
Plan Themes
The Urban Forest Plan guides the management of the urban forest across four major themes that reflect the values and priorities of the community to guide the long-term stewardship and growth of the urban forest.
• Equity. Alameda’s tree canopy is not equitably distributed across neighborhoods and the benefits of the urban forest are not evenly shared. The urban forest plan promotes practices and policies that provide for the equitable distribution of canopy cover across the city and provide the benefits of the urban forest evenly to all residents.
• Health and Resilience. The Urban Forest Plan promotes a healthy and diverse urban forest that is adapted to the adverse impacts of climate change. Alameda’s urban forest is well managed following best practices for tree care.
• Growing the Tree Canopy. The Urban Forest Plan encourages the preservation of existing healthy trees and growing the tree canopy by planting new trees.
• Engaging communities. The community plays a vital role in the preservation and expansion of Alameda’s urban forest. The Urban Forest Plan seeks to increase awareness in the Alameda community of the benefits of trees and proper management and promote participation in urban forest management.
Plan Goals and Strategies
The draft UFP presented in this item identifies four goals that identify the specific ways the plan’s vision will be achieved. The plan identifies specific strategies and actions to implement each of the goals. Strategies are listed below while actions are documented in the body of the plan. Turning goals into action requires funding and potentially new staffing resources. Some of the implementation actions can only be implemented once additional staff is approved, funded, and hired. Funding scenarios are presented as part of the UFP. While the City will take the lead in managing and growing the urban forest, the community also plays an important role in this process.
The goals and strategies presented in the draft UFP take into consideration the target set forth in the CARP. The CARP target is to plant 350 trees a year which would achieve a canopy cover of 20% citywide by 2055. However, funding and staffing was not approved with CARP to materialize this target. Ultimately, City Council will set a canopy percentage goal by adopting one of the funding scenarios proposed in the draft UFP.
• Goal 1: Maintain and grow a healthy and diverse urban forest to provide an increase in tree canopy cover in each Census Tract and citywide by 2055.
o Strategy 1.A: Grow the urban forest
o Strategy 1.B: Maintain the health and diversity of the urban forest.
o Strategy 1.C: Ensure existing and new trees are incorporated into new developments and City plans for both public and private property.
• Goal 2: Develop the financial and human resources necessary to effectively manage the urban forest and implement the UFP.
o Strategy 2.A: Define responsibilities and maintain adequate staffing and budget to successfully maintain the health of the urban forest and implement the Urban Forest Plan.
• Goal 3: Increase protection for public and private trees.
o Strategy 3.A: Support improved protections for public and private trees.
• Goal 4: Partner with an engaged and informed community to effectively steward the urban forest.
o Strategy 4.A: Engage residents and community organizations in the urban forest.
o Strategy 4.B: Build capacity of community organizations to engage with the urban forest.
Community Engagement
The UFP was developed using a robust community engagement process that included the following activities:
• Student Earth Day letter writing activity to encourage urban forest advocacy in children and teenagers.
• Public tree survey that was circulated online and in-person (839 responses).
• Three (3) public outreach events aimed at gauging community opinions of the current state of the urban forest.
• A Listening Session was held on May 20, 2023 with approximately 40 attendees to survey community members on where they think more trees should be planted within the City, brainstorming how to improve the urban forest, and discussing how to overcome threats to the urban forest.
• Five (5) Working Group meetings consisting of 17 engaged community leaders to understand interested parties’ priorities and concerns about the urban forest.
• City staff interviews to discuss current challenges, needs from a staff perspective, and goals and outcomes for the UFP.
Workshop presentations and survey results are available at www.alamedaca.gov/ <http://www.alamedaca.gov/>UrbanForestPlan.
Current Engagement
• Community Workshop #2 - 1 virtual, 1 in-person open house, January 29 and 30, 2025
• City Council study session (February 4, 2025)
• Board and Commission meetings (January/February 2025): Recreation and Parks Commission, Public Utilities Board, Planning Board, and Historical Advisory Board.
• City Council adoption (expected Spring 2024)
Key UFP Updates
The following tasks were completed as part of the Urban Forest Plan Update:
• Assessment of tree canopy coverage and tree inventory
• Assessment of tree equity and social vulnerability
• Assessment of threats and risks to the urban forest
• Assessment of key issues by neighborhood and corridor
• Improved best management practices, including standards, details, guidelines, and policies of how the City will manage the tree inventory and urban forest.
• Development of Priority Planting Score (PPS) to guide tree planting by census tract for a more equitably distributed canopy cover
• Canopy Cover Increase Analysis
• Development of strategies to meet plan goals and recommendations for community partnerships to expand tree canopy beyond city managed trees
• Climate ready Tree Species Selection Matrix
• Funding and staffing recommendations or implementation
Canopy Cover Goal
Canopy goal strategies presented here were developed in consideration of the approved CARP target. However, City Council will set a canopy goal for Alameda by providing direction on the funding scenarios presented in this draft UFP. The canopy goal (and associated funding scenario) will be formally adopted in the final UFP. The UFP aims to maintain and grow a healthy and diverse urban forest to provide increase in tree canopy cover in each Census Tract and citywide by 2055. The following is a summary of the data points and analysis used to determine the canopy cover goal.
Increasing canopy cover to 20% will require adding approximately 9,600 new trees based on the size of tree planted.
The City inventory reflects 4,234 vacant tree planting sites. It may be possible to add additional planting sites by cutting new tree wells, removing asphalt, and other depaving practices.
An estimated 5,170 residential parcels have no tree cover and may be suitable candidates for new trees.
Canopy growth of the existing city managed trees may only account for an additional 2.8% canopy increase.
The city averages approximately 189 tree removals per year. While these trees will be replaced when they are removed, it will likely take the 30-year timeframe of the Urban Forest Plan to recover the lost canopy.
The spacing limitations within the city make 20% canopy cover a realistic goal to achieve over the next 30 years. The City can reassess if a higher canopy goal is achievable if the original goal is achieved on a faster timeline. The Plan will prioritize tree planting in priority census tracts utilizing a priority planting score developed for the Plan that combines Census tracts with low canopy cover and an equity focused metric of pollution vulnerability and burden using CalEnviroScreen 4.0, a screening tool that can be used to help identify California communities that are disproportionately burdened by multiple sources of pollution.
Tree Species Selection Matrix
As part of the UFP update, the City updated its preferred tree species list to further assist in the long-term effort to increase canopy cover city-wide. The Alameda Tree Species Selection Matrix (Matrix) is a comprehensive table of tree species that are appropriate for the current and anticipated future climate of Alameda. The tree species list is available to view online at SelecTree <https://selectree.calpoly.edu/list/108>. Development of the Matrix included consultation with City staff, local City arborists, and other local experts to understand how current species are performing in the landscape, maintenance challenges, and whether the tree species provides a desirable aesthetic. The list was also vetted through various research papers and studies to understand what species are predicted to be suitable for changing environmental conditions. A specific focus was placed on understanding how raising groundwater would impact tree health and what species would be best adapted to a higher groundwater table and salinity.
The Matrix provides detailed information on each individual species to assist the City in selecting the right tree for the right place. This includes information on species characteristics like height and width at maturity, type of fruit or flowers, or evergreen or deciduous. Additional information is provided to help determine what locations the species should be planted like minimum planting space, best for street or park, and tolerance to site conditions like sun exposure, preferred soil type, and water use.
Finally, an important consideration for each species is whether they are appropriate to be planted under utility lines to ensure that trees can reach a mature size without coming into conflict with overhead wires. Tree species with a maximum potential height of 25 feet are considered appropriate to plant under utility lines. Planting trees appropriate for these locations will also help to reduce long-term maintenance costs associated with frequently pruning trees to maintain clearance from electric lines.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This action does not constitute a “project” as defined in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378 and therefore no further CEQA analysis is required. Before the Council formally adopts the Plan staff will determine the appropriate level of environmental review required. Given the Plan’s focus on maintaining and increasing existing tree canopy, Council’s action will likely be exempt from CEQA.
RECOMMENDATION
Review and comment on the Urban Forest Plan and implementation.