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 proposed using that funding to accelerate plantings in corridors and in underserved neighborhoods.

Key details: Staff proposed a two-tier use of the bond funds. Tier 1 (about 75% of the bond allocation for street trees) would fully fund tree plantings that overlap with the pavement-preservation projects already in the bond, prioritizing sites in the city’s high-priority planting areas. Tier 2 (about 25%) would pay to remove barriers that prevent new plantings at those sites—work such as stump removal, soil remediation, concrete removal, or minor sidewalk alterations needed to create viable planting spots. Staff said they plan to plant roughly 450 bond-funded street trees annually and to leverage other funding sources to reach a target of 1,000 new street trees per year.

Staff outlined other program needs and constraints: the city aims for a 10‑year pruning cycle but currently averages about a 12.8‑year cycle and reached nearly 20 years in FY 2024 after a major storm diverted crew resources. To meet a 10‑year proactive pruning cycle citywide, staff estimated an additional $250,000 annually would be required (from a target of $550,000 to the current $300,000 dedicated to pruning). Staff also described watering and establishment costs: they estimated an average per-tree planting and three-year establishment cost of $625.

Commission discussion and community focus: Commissioners pressed staff on volunteer roles, survival rates, species selection, and how to prioritize neighborhoods with the lowest canopy coverage. Staff described existing partnerships—Friends of Trees, Northwest Youth Corps, and seasonal program hires—and the in-house nursery the city has expanded to supply appropriate species. On species, staff said the program maintains a list of roughly 200 species and emphasized “right tree, right place” selection to reduce future conflicts with sidewalks and utilities.

Equity and private-land limits: Commissioners repeatedly returned to equity concerns and the fact that most canopy is on private land. Staff pointed out the canopy targets are system-wide (not limited to the 28% of trees the city directly influences) and said private‑property planting and incentives will be necessary to reach a 30% citywide canopy. Commissioners discussed potential outreach, education campaigns, and code changes to better preserve mature trees on private parcels; staff noted that private-tree rules and their enforcement sit in other municipal divisions and that code changes would require Council direction.

Commission next steps and decisions: Commissioners did not vote on adoption of the Urban Forestry Management Plan (staff signaled the plan is slated to go to City Council in April), but the Commission agreed to prepare a letter for Council that (1) expresses support for finalizing the Urban Forestry Management Plan, (2) highlights the program’s resource gaps (pruning and planting funding), and (3) asks Council to address gaps in private‑property tree protections and incentives. Commissioner Alexi volunteered to draft the letter and staff said the commission must submit a final draft in time to place it on the March meeting packet (staff noted a March 5 deadline for packet materials).

Votes at a glance: The meeting record shows routine procedural votes not tied to the urban-forestry agenda: approval of the January meeting minutes and a motion to extend the meeting to 7:30 p.m. Both measures were moved and approved during the session; the transcript does not record individual roll-call tallies or named movers for those procedural votes.

What’s next: Staff said the draft Urban Forestry Management Plan is open for stakeholder review through March 1 and is expected to be finalized in late spring, with Council consideration in April. The Commission plans to send the Council letter in advance of that hearing and to continue monitoring bond-funded planting progress and the program’s staffing and funding needs.

Ending: Commissioners praised staff work on the long-overdue management plan and emphasized the need for coordinated outreach and funding strategies to extend canopy gains beyond the public right of way into private yards and institutionally owned lands.