Committee advances urban forest management plan and schedules detailed briefing on storm damage and recovery

Dan Hintz, Issaquah’s urban forester, presented the draft Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP) and the committee recommended forwarding the plan to full council as regular business while adding focused council discussion on storm recovery and financial impacts from the recent wind event.

The UFMP is framed as a roughly 10‑year program roadmap covering current conditions, goals and a prioritized implementation and monitoring framework. Hintz described three major plan sections: (1) current conditions and canopy assessment updates, (2) vision and guiding principles, and (3) implementation and monitoring, including cost estimates for priority studies.

Monitoring tools and costs Hintz described two monitoring tools: an urban forest audit using a U.S. Forest Service protocol and a benchmarking exercise based on Tree City USA / peer comparisons. He provided short‑term cost estimates included in the plan: a riparian canopy update (~$10,000) and a more comprehensive citywide canopy assessment (~$25,000). The plan recommends repeating a citywide canopy assessment roughly every decade and updating riparian canopy assessments more frequently (about every three years).

Equity, hazards and partnerships The plan uses the Tree Equity Score (American Forests) and Washington health‑disparities mapping to prioritize tree‑planting and equity‑focused giveaways. Hintz emphasized cross‑department coordination (parks, public works, community planning and sustainability), continued reliance on volunteers and nonprofit partners (for example Green Issaquah, Issaquah Alps Trails Club, Mountains to Sound Greenway) and grant funding sources such as King Conservation District and DNR for inventory and restoration work.

Bomb cyclone response and near‑term recovery Committee discussion included a detailed update on storm response. Hintz said city crews and contractors prioritized clearing roads, trails and structures, and staff have performed site triage and hazard tree risk assessments. He estimated an initial conservative count of about 300 trees lost in maintained rights‑of‑way and park areas and said the total loss across open space is substantially higher.

Hintz said the city has coordinated with state agencies (Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, DNR) and third‑party contractors for stream log management and other riparian work requiring hydraulic permits. He announced the city’s Arbor Day planting event scheduled for April 5 as part of the recovery and volunteer replanting effort but cautioned that full recovery of canopy will take years.

Committee direction and next steps City administration requested the UFMP be placed on the full council agenda as regular business and asked to add a separate briefing on the storm’s financial impacts and the city’s ability to pursue state or federal recovery funding; Jared Schneider, the city’s emergency manager, will be asked to appear. Committee members supported that approach and discussed tracking implementation annually with park and environmental boards.

Why it matters Hintz and committee members framed the UFMP as foundational for urban forest stewardship that provides stormwater, air‑quality, carbon and soil‑stabilization co‑benefits. Committee members raised the plan’s role in addressing illegal tree removals, tree code incentives, and prioritizing tree equity and riparian canopy protection.

Ending note The committee recommended forwarding the UFMP to full council as regular business and asked administration to return quickly with a focused briefing on storm damage costs and recovery funding options; staff indicated they will provide annual updates and begin implementation tasks including a public tree inventory.