Parks staff outline urban-forest program: thousands of trees planted, $1.6M annual pruning budget

City parks staff presented a multi-year urban-forest management update that reviewed planting and maintenance metrics, budget assumptions and grant-funded work in underserved neighborhoods.

Mr. Cortez, who led the presentation, said the city launched the program in 2021 with a five-year goal to plant 15,000 trees and to implement a 5-year grid pruning cycle. He told commissioners the city has planted about 18,848 trees to date (10,397 since program implementation) and trimmed roughly 52,771 trees since 2021; trees trimmed year to date were reported at 9,485. Mr. Cortez said the city budgets approximately $1.6 million annually for pruning, removals and plantings (this figure, he said, covers pruning services and related operations but does not include infrastructure repairs such as lifted sidewalks).

Cortez also described a $100,000 USDA Green Latinos grant targeted at underserved, high-heat index areas; staff plan to plant roughly 400 trees under that grant and expect the project closed out by the end of the calendar year.

Commissioners asked about breakouts of the $1.6 million figure, expected attrition rates, species selection and opportunities to review program outcomes after the five-year grid cycle completes. Cortez said pruning accounts for the annual figure and that staff plan a lookback at the program once the five-year cycle is complete to evaluate return on investment and possible adjustments.

Staff described resident services including grid pruning (no resident request needed), a residential pay program for off-cycle trimming, Gator bags for newly planted trees, and reuse of green waste for mulch distribution.