Sacramento Urban Forest Plan

Why Plan for Trees?

The City of Sacramento has a long-standing reputation as the City of Trees and the city’s urban forest provides many benefits to the city and its residents. To maintain this legacy, the long-term health and success of the urban forest requires ongoing and intentional management and action. Since 2017, the city has been engaged in a planning process to develop the Sacramento Urban Forest Plan (SUFP) as the city’s primary planning tool for the protection, expansion, maintenance, sustainability, and enhancement of Sacramento’s urban forest. The SUFP will include:

Vision for the urban forest
Assessments of the current status of the urban forest
Policy and Program Framework including ambitious goals, objectives, and actions based on the information analyzed and needs identified through the assessments.
Implementation Strategy with timelines and assigned responsibilities.

Why have we been waiting so long to see a draft plan?

Initially, the draft SUFP was expected to be shared for public review and adoption in early 2020. Because of several factors, the plan will not be shared for public review and comment until Winter 2023.

The biggest reason the SUFP has been delayed is due to the importance of aligning the plan with the 2040 General Plan Update. The General Plan is the city’s overarching policy guide for the future. It sets guidelines for everything, from the physical boundaries of the city to its economic growth and physical development to the preservation of resources. While the General Plan provides the city a blueprint, the Urban Forest Plan will implement the tree goals of the General Plan and provide a detailed and specific plan just for trees.

Because the SUFP implements the General Plan and both plans include a 35% tree canopy goal, the city is required to perform environmental analysis through CEQA to understand how the canopy goal impacts the environment. The General Plan is performing a Master Environmental Impact Report (MEIR) that will cover the environmental analysis required for both plans, and therefore must be reviewed and adopted first. The General Plan is out for public review in summer of 2023 and is expected to be adopted in early 2024. The SUFP will follow closely behind with public review beginning late 2023 and adoption expected by spring of 2024.

Project Timeline

September 2023: Staff Finalize Administrative Draft
October-November 2023: Partner Advisory Committee review and feedback
December 2023-March 2024: Public review and comment period
Spring 2024: Plan Adoption

Project Background

The work completed to date has included extensive analysis of the current urban forest, community and stakeholder collaboration, and staff coordination to align urban forest goals across multiple city planning efforts.

1) To better understand city owned and maintained public trees, the city analyzed the inventory of city-managed trees.

Sacramento Urban Forest iTree Resource Analysis

2) To better understand city-wide tree canopy, including trees on private property, the city performed a city-wise assessment using aerial imagery.

Sacramento Urban Tree Canopy Assessment Report

3) To better understand community values and allow residents and stakeholders the opportunity to express their views, the development of the SUFP included the formation of and meetings for a Partner Advisory Committee (formerly called Stakeholder Representative Group), numerous public meetings and workshops, a digital survey, and a series of pop-up booths at community events.

4) To align with other city planning efforts, urban forestry goals have been incorporated into the General Plan, Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, and the Parks Plan.

Project Documents

Check back here for project documents. Project staff will update this site with materials as they become available for public review. This section may include recordings of virtual meetings, meeting summaries, reports, and other items.

Other Resources

Tree Ordinance
City Parking Lot Shading and Maintenance Guidelines

How do I participate?

The Sacramento Urban Forest Plan is an opportunity to give feedback and help guide the development of the plan. When the public review period begins, the plan will be available for review and comment via a self-guided online workshop posted on this webpage. City of Sacramento Staff will also attend and host events in neighborhoods across the city to hear your feedback.

Check back on this webpage to see updates about the plan release for public review!

Or join the mailing list to receive email updates about the project.