Project Background
The Urban Forestry Management Plan
and Municipal Tree Code Updates
“The Right Tree in the Right Place”
Urban Forestry Management Plan
The City Council established “Be a Leader in Environmental Sustainability” as one of its 2021-2026 Strategic Priorities with the goal of “Develop new approaches to tree preservation and urban forestry management.” To achieve this goal, the Tree Board prepared the Urban Forestry Management Plan with the support of stakeholders and Community Development Department staff.
Stewarding healthy trees in the urban environment requires careful planning and ongoing management and monitoring. The Urban Forestry Management Plan guides the stewardship of trees and understory vegetation within the City. The primary goal and focus of the Plan is “The Right Tree in the Right Place.”
The intent of the Plan is to build on the 1996 Urban Forestry Plan and 2002 Comprehensive Street Tree Plan. The Plan provides recommendations for updating Tumwater Municipal Code (TMC) 16.08 Protection of Trees and Vegetation as well as TMC 12.24 Street Trees and TMC 18.47 Landscaping with the primary goal of ensuring “The Right Tree in the Right Place,” as well as establishing a number of other implementation Actions. Some key Plan goals guiding the code update effort include:
Restore and enhance the community and urban forest.
Protect and preserve the community and urban forest, which includes trees, understory, habitat, and soils.
Balance the protection and support of the community and urban forest with other City strategic priorities, which include, in part, providing affordable housing, developing a walkable urban community, economic development, addressing climate change, and protecting endangered species.
Read the complete Urban Forestry Management Plan Here
2002 Tumwater Comprehensive Street Tree Plan
The Street Tree Plan is a long-term plan that ensures the environmental health, economic, and aesthetic benefits of trees to the community of Tumwater grow with time. The 2002 Street Tree Plan includes an assessment of current street tree conditions, outlines street standards to provide space for trees, and provides best management practices including planting guidelines to provide for the longevity and sustainability.
Tree Canopy Assessment
Urban Tree Canopy refers to the footprint of the urban forest which includes trees on both public and private land, in rights-of-way, public parks, and open space.
City staff conducted a canopy assessment using 2011 and 2017 canopy cover data. This geospatial assessment works with image classification software using recent aerial orthoimagery, near-infrared imagery, and LiDAR, to differentiate land cover types. This data is used to identify current canopy cover in different land use zones, can be used to identify canopy preservation areas, as well as planting priorities.
Tumwater’s city-wide tree canopy cover in 2017 was 40%, an increase of 3% from 2011. Based on this analysis, the City has identified specific canopy cover targets for each land use zone district to guide urban forest management planning and help measure progress during the next 20 years. To learn more, go to Appendix A.2 of the 2021 Urban Forest Management Plan.
Image Credits (from top to bottom):
Giant Sequoia with children (banner image) by Ricardo Esquivel
Woman holding child walking on a pathway by Sue Zeng
Low angle tree canopy by L.L. Kern