Escondido planners outline accelerated urban-forestry program after federal grant timeline is cut

City staff and a consultant told the Escondido Planning Commission that a shortened federal grant timeline has forced the city to accelerate early tree plantings while it develops a longer-term urban forestry management plan.

Associate Planner Priscilla Roldan said the city’s Climate Action Plan directed staff to develop an urban forestry management plan and that a U.S. Department of Agriculture/U.S. Forest Service grant authorized by City Council resolution 2024-127 funded the work. Roldan told the commission that federal cuts to related programs and staff shortened the grant timeline from roughly three years to six months, and the council approved resolution 2025-09 to proceed with a consultant contract despite the compressed schedule.

The project team, led by Dudek urban forest planner Kanami Ohtani, described the plan’s two tracks: (1) early tree care and plantings to use available grant funds within the six-month window, and (2) development of an urban forestry management plan (UFMP) that will analyze the city’s tree inventory, canopy cover and policy updates.

“The city of Escondido currently has approximately an 18% canopy cover,” Ohtani said, describing the combined public and private canopy figure the team is using…