The Sunnyvale City Council unanimously approved a citywide Urban Forest Management Plan on Sept. 16.
The 121-page document was several years in the making due to a series of delays. The city was awarded a grant from the California State Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL-FIRE) in 2008; however, state funding of the plan was significantly delayed due to the economic recession.
Phytosphere Research was contracted to draft an urban forestry management plan for Sunnyvale, which was completed in 2011. The restructuring of city departments in 2011 also added to delays.
There are an estimated 231,000 trees in Sunnyvale, including about 70,000 along street rights-of-way.
Key goals of the plan regarding this inventory include increasing the city’s tree canopy, maintaining street trees, fostering community support for maintaining and improving the city’s urban forest and encouraging proper tree management on private property.
Due to budget reductions in fiscal year 2011-12, street trees’ regular preventative maintenance nearly ceased altogether.
Funding was restored in fiscal year 2012-13, with the goal to restore at least a seven-year average pruning cycle for all trees in the street tree inventory.
Last year in the city, upward of 16,000 trees were pruned compared to the 2,000-3,000 the year before, according to parks superintendent Scott Morton.
“You actually get a lot more increased enhancement of the canopy by sustaining and maintaining the trees we already have, as opposed to planting more trees,” Morton said during the meeting. “The care for mature trees that you already have is probably the single most important factor.”
This year the city plans to plant 250 to 500 more trees than are removed.
The operating budget is enough to achieve the plan’s goals without having a fiscal impact, Morton added.
The plan will serve as the framework to ensure the sustainability and attractiveness of the urban forest for the future. Adopting the plan was the final requirement for the grant.
Sunnyvale has been a Tree City USA every year since 1989. To qualify as a Tree City USA community, a town or city must meet four standards established by the Arbor Day Foundation and the National Association of State Foresters.
The standards include having a tree board or department, tree care ordinance, community forestry program with an annual budget of at least $2 per capita and an Arbor Day observance and proclamation.
