Mountlake Terrace reviews draft urban forest management plan, aims to raise canopy to about 37% by 2050

Laura Reed, stormwater program manager for the city of Mountlake Terrace, presented a draft urban forest management plan and asked the City Council for feedback rather than a decision.

The plan, Reed said, has been developed by a consultant, city staff and a resident team since June and was funded in part by a State of Washington Department of Natural Resources urban and community forestry grant. "This is a truly a community led process," Reed told the council as she outlined draft goals and next steps.

The draft sets a canopy goal to increase tree cover from roughly 32 percent to about 37 percent over the next 25 years (to 2050) and includes a street-tree inventory, canopy goals by planning zone, benchmarking against other communities, and outreach results from two public surveys. Reed said the city currently has "almost 7,000 street trees in the city, just an astonishing number for the size of a community." She said the consultant calculated a recommended replacement rate of 137 trees per…