City seeks Sustainable Forestry Initiative grant to update urban forest plan; council staff to finalize scope

Lake Forest Park — Director Hoffman provided a project update Thursday on the city’s plan to pursue a Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) grant to support an update of the city’s urban forest management plan and related workforce planning.

Hoffman said staff initially considered a $25,000 option but after discussing scope and federal reporting needs the useful award level for the city grew to “70‑plus” thousand dollars because the work required — such as an audit of the existing plan and consultant support to address gaps — needed more budget than the smaller amount would allow.

Hoffman said SFI funding is flexible, comes through a USDA channel to SFI, and will not require the federal-level reporting that would have made a small award infeasible. He told the council the city has recruited a new urban forest planner who will be assigned this work and that staff expects to bring a detailed scope to the tree board and then to the council for approval.…