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Trees are a valuable community asset, enhancing our parks and open spaces, cooling our neighborhoods, capturing air pollution, intercepting stormwater runoff and improving safety in our community. Growing and caring for our city’s urban tree canopy is no small task; a healthy tree canopy is the result of proper planning, management and community involvement.
To guide the future of trees in our community, the City developed an Urban Forestry Management Plan (UFMP). This plan engages the community in creating a vision for the future, so that trees can continue to benefit everyone who lives, works and plays in Vancouver for generations to come.
The final Urban Forestry Management Plan and Technical Report are now available for viewing. The plan was submitted for review with Washington State Department of Commerce and State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) in May/June. The final draft is now available. View the virtual meetings and presentation from January 25 below.
The urban forest consists of all the trees, shrubs and vegetation within the City, including parks, along roadways, private yards and natural areas. In total, Vancouver has more than 6,000 acres of tree canopy. Caring for the urban forest is essential to create a sustainable, healthy vibrant city.
The urban forest plays a key role in mitigating urban heat islands, reducing electricity bills, improving air quality, reducing stormwater runoff and flooding damage, improving overall emotional and psychological health and improving physical health.
Taken together, these benefits help save an estimated $44 million annually in reduced healthcare, emergency response and energy costs.
The urban forest captures 14 millionpounds of carbon annually (a $1 million value) and assists in mitigating climate change by storing carbon (a $48 million value).
243 million gallons of stormwater runoff are mitigated each year by our urban forest (a $2 million savings).
Our urban forest also removed over 297,000 pounds of pollutants from the air each year.
The plan will serve as a roadmap that creates a shared vision for the future of Vancouver’s tree canopy to maximize long-term benefits to the community. The first step in the planning process is a comprehensive analysis of our community's current tree canopy. This will include reviewing public tree inventory data, existing plans, policy frameworks and tree management metrics, such as pruning, planting, removals and permitting data.
The plan will also include a focus on tree equity: identifying neighborhoods that currently have fewer trees than others and developing strategies to help increase tree canopy in these areas. This will help to reduce heat island effects, during summer months, and ensure that all people in Vancouver have access to the benefits of trees.
Trees are a valuable community asset, enhancing our parks and open spaces, cooling our neighborhoods, capturing air pollution, intercepting stormwater runoff and improving safety in our community. Growing and caring for our city’s urban tree canopy is no small task; a healthy tree canopy is the result of proper planning, management and community involvement.
To guide the future of trees in our community, the City developed an Urban Forestry Management Plan (UFMP). This plan engages the community in creating a vision for the future, so that trees can continue to benefit everyone who lives, works and plays in Vancouver for generations to come.
The final Urban Forestry Management Plan and Technical Report are now available for viewing. The plan was submitted for review with Washington State Department of Commerce and State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) in May/June. The final draft is now available. View the virtual meetings and presentation from January 25 below.
The urban forest consists of all the trees, shrubs and vegetation within the City, including parks, along roadways, private yards and natural areas. In total, Vancouver has more than 6,000 acres of tree canopy. Caring for the urban forest is essential to create a sustainable, healthy vibrant city.
The urban forest plays a key role in mitigating urban heat islands, reducing electricity bills, improving air quality, reducing stormwater runoff and flooding damage, improving overall emotional and psychological health and improving physical health.
Taken together, these benefits help save an estimated $44 million annually in reduced healthcare, emergency response and energy costs.
The urban forest captures 14 millionpounds of carbon annually (a $1 million value) and assists in mitigating climate change by storing carbon (a $48 million value).
243 million gallons of stormwater runoff are mitigated each year by our urban forest (a $2 million savings).
Our urban forest also removed over 297,000 pounds of pollutants from the air each year.
The plan will serve as a roadmap that creates a shared vision for the future of Vancouver’s tree canopy to maximize long-term benefits to the community. The first step in the planning process is a comprehensive analysis of our community's current tree canopy. This will include reviewing public tree inventory data, existing plans, policy frameworks and tree management metrics, such as pruning, planting, removals and permitting data.
The plan will also include a focus on tree equity: identifying neighborhoods that currently have fewer trees than others and developing strategies to help increase tree canopy in these areas. This will help to reduce heat island effects, during summer months, and ensure that all people in Vancouver have access to the benefits of trees.
To guide the future of trees in our community, the City developed an Urban Forestry Management Plan (UFMP). This plan engages the community in creating a vision for the future, so that trees can continue to benefit everyone who lives, works and plays in Vancouver for generations to come.
