Sustainability Commission reviews draft Urban Forestry Management Plan and outlines $2 million in street-tree bond plantings

Eugene urban forestry staff presented a draft Urban Forestry Management Plan and a proposal to use $2 million from the 2022 street bond to plant and establish street trees in high-priority and underserved neighborhoods, the Sustainability Commission heard at its regular meeting.

The staff presentation framed the program as responsible for public right-of-way street trees only and outlined the scale of the city’s public tree inventory. “We manage the inventory of about 65,000 street trees,” Urban Forestry staff member Danielle said during the presentation. She said the program is designed around three values—growing and sustaining the urban forest, resiliency and emergency response, and environmental justice and equity—and emphasized the program’s limited direct control: “72% of our urban forest is on private land,” she said.

Why it matters: Staff tied the plan to Eugene’s Climate Action Plan and to targets the city is tracking, including a commonly used 30% canopy coverage goal. The presentation estimated that to reach targets largely via public plantings would require a multi‑year investment: planting 1,500 public trees a year (roughly 22,500 new trees by mid-century) would cost about $1 million a year and yield substantial ecosystem-service returns according to staff calculations. The 2022 street bond provides $2 million for street-tree projects over five years; staff…