Tacoma staff outline steps to boost tree canopy, cite funding and regulatory gaps

Tacoma urban forestry staff told the Infrastructure Planning and Sustainability Committee on Feb. 12 that the city must scale planting, maintenance and regulatory tools to reach a 30% tree-canopy goal and that work will continue at a policy-focused committee meeting in two weeks.

The briefing set current program baselines and next steps. Urban Forest Program Manager Mike Carey said the presentation was intended "to kick off a series of presentations focused on improving the urban forestry level of service for our community." He told the committee staff are starting from a shared premise that trees provide public benefits including air-quality improvement, stormwater management and urban heat reduction and that the discussion should align with the Home in Tacoma amendment the council previously adopted.

Why the briefing matters: staff said Tacoma's right-of-way (public streets and sidewalks) accounts for about 26% of the city's land area but has only about 9.2% canopy cover, well below the citywide target. Carey noted that meeting canopy goals in each land-use category would collectively achieve the city's 30% target; the question is how to close the gaps through incentives, city responsibility, regulations or partnerships.

Program details and recent work Lisa Kenny, community tree program…