CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING AGENDA PACKET

Page 3 of 5 Part 1 – The Urban Forest Master Plan This section is meant for the public, is based on the outreach process, and summarizes the history of Pleasanton’s urban forest and its current state. It also identifies the guiding principles for managing the urban forest and defines the key findings of the plan, along with implementation and monitoring strategies. Guiding principles for our urban forest include: • Creating a resilient community • Supporting a community that is invested in growing and preserving the urban forest • Funding and managing city trees to maximize public benefit • Integrating trees from the start Key findings of the report include: • Canopy cover is increasing through improved management action • Trees on private property provide the majority of the City’s urban forest canopy • The future of Pleasanton’s urban forest may be at risk without active measures to increase species diversity • Additional funding is required for the city to achieve its urban forest goals (essentially, maintaining what we have) • There is a need for a team dedicated to the health of the urban forest The implementation and monitoring plan sets short, intermediate, and long-term actions to manage the urban forest. The actions, such as planting 50 trees per year, maintaining trees for a three-year establishment period, educating the public about the urban forest's importance, and promoting tree giveaways, are reasonable and measurable actions that can be implemented to meet the goals of the UFMP. The City has already started to carry out some of the critical actions identified in the UFMP – including giving away 50 trees this past Earth Day, and exploring a partnership with Rotary North to give away and plant trees for residents. Additionally, the UFMP outlines a strategy to ensure an equitable, resilient, and sustainably managed urban forest, including the long-term care, preservation and funding of the community’s urban forest. The plan establishes a 25 percent canopy cover goal citywide. Currently, a number of neighborhoods meet or exceed the 25 percent goal, and the overall canopy cover is 25.3 percent, but the plan establishes actions for an equal distribution of the urban forest among every neighborhood and district within the city. The plan will guide future Tree Preservation Ordinance updates, tree inventory updates, maintenance management, and public outreach and education. The UFMP is intended to be comprehensive enough to provide a broad vision for the future of the City’s urban forest and detailed enough to address individual community concerns, such as potential hazards with trees relating to storms and fires, infrastructure conflicts and the urban heat island effect, which were some of the most important topics staff heard from the public outreach conducted during the plan creation. Part 2 – Technical Assessment This section is tailored for City staff and provides a detailed account of Pleasanton’s urban forestry program, including an analysis of the City’s canopy cover, budgeting and community Page 104 of 264