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Bothell staff outline urban forest management plan and climate action plan timelines and public engagement
Summary
City staff briefed the council on two planning efforts—an urban forest management plan led with consultant Planet Geo and a city-led climate action plan using Cascadia Consulting for emissions inventories—describing data collection, public engagement and expected deliverables to the Washington Department of Commerce.
City planning staff on Jan. 21 updated the Bothell City Council on two interrelated planning efforts: an urban forest management plan being prepared with consultant Planet Geo and a climate action plan (CAP) being prepared internally with community support and technical inventories by Cascadia Consulting.
Community Development Deputy Director Christian Getz introduced the update and said both projects are funded through a Department of Commerce grant tied to Washington’s Climate Commitment Act and are slated for completion later in 2025 with key deliverables due to Commerce by June.
Cameron Colvin, a City planner, said Planet Geo will perform a street-tree inventory in public rights-of-way, mapping individual trees and collecting species, size and conflict-with-infrastructure information. The firm also will produce a 2023 tree-canopy assessment to compare with the city’s 2016 data; staff noted the earlier assessment showed about 45% canopy cover. Planned outreach for the urban forest work includes at least one public survey, two focus groups and an open house, with additional staff-led outreach and social-media messaging.
Emily Nielsen, the Climate Action Civic Spark Fellow, described the CAP approach: Cascadia Consulting will produce communitywide and municipal greenhouse-gas inventories for 2022 and 2023 to create a baseline for mitigation measures. The CAP will emphasize emissions-reduction (mitigation); adaptation work will be coordinated through hazard-mitigation and emergency-planning efforts. Staff said they will align the CAP with other plans, including fleet electrification and the PROS plan, and that deliverables to the grantor are expected in mid-year with further council briefings in July.
Staff described public engagement plans for the CAP, including a 23-member Climate Action Plan Advisory Committee (recruited through an open process), three planned surveys (the first now posted on engagebothell.com), workshops and tabling at community events. Council members asked detailed questions about canopy measurement (leaf-on season data from 2023 will be used), whether sequestration will be counted (staff said sequestration is not part of the emissions inventory baseline but will be considered in the urban forest plan), and whether heritage-tree criteria would include large non-native specimens; staff said those policy details will be developed as part of the forest plan and could lead to future code amendments.
No council action was required; staff requested feedback and signaled more public engagement and draft recommendations later in 2025.
