Pittsburg Urban Forest Management Launch

In the Spring of 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Forest Service (FS) announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Urban and Community Forestry Program (UCF). Under the Inflation Reduction Act, the Urban and Community Forestry Program received a historic $1.5 billion to support urban tree-planting, urban forest planning and management, and related activities, particularly in disadvantaged communities. It is the only dedicated urban forest program in the federal government.

By working with state partners and community tree groups, the program invests from the ground up in communities, improving more than 140 million acres of urban and community forest across the United States.

In February 2024, the City was awarded $2,000,000.00 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Grant for Pittsburg’s Urban Forest Management Launch Program.

With this grant the city will conduct a tree inventory to establish baseline data on existing trees, secure software for this management effort, educate staff and the community about urban forest management, begin a tree planting/replanting program focused in our most disadvantaged neighborhoods and create a comprehensive Urban Forest Management Plan .

The goal is  to develop a strategy for tree planting to increase the tree canopy.

A share of the new trees to be planted will be located in underserved areas of the City, meeting the grant program’s goals for equity, reducing the impact of greenhouse gases, and producing additional environmental benefits. Expansion of the urban forest will help meet the City’s goal of improving the quality of life for City residents.  

Progress & Updates

 September 27, 2024

Tree Inventory Begins 9/30/2024

🌳🌿 Exciting News for the Pittsburg Community! 🌿🌳

We are thrilled to announce that our Urban Forest Management Program is officially launching on Monday, 9/30! Starting Monday, you may see field technicians in yellow vests measuring and photographing trees. The City’s consultant, PlanIT Geo, will use GPS and Arborist expertise to perform mapping and data collection on Pittsburg's urban street trees, with the ultimate purpose of creating a comprehensive forest management plan.

A tree inventory is completed on the ground by field technicians who assess individual trees on a set of criteria and plot their location. A tree inventory provides an exact count of trees in a defined area and depending on the scope of the inventory, can provide detailed information on the condition of each tree too. Some of the key insights of a tree inventory are:

• Species composition and age diversity of trees
• Identifying high-risk trees and routine maintenance needs
• Tracking of pest/disease presence

Tree inventories provide the data needed for short-term management of a tree population, such as existing tree maintenance needs, new tree plantings, tree removals, and other day-to-day forestry operations.

Our inventory will mainly focus on city-owned trees, but some data for canopy measurements may be collected on trees in residential front yards if they fall within 15-20 feet of the curb and sidewalk.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding our Urban Forest, the Program Launch, or the tree inventory, please do not approach the PlanIT Geo team. Instead, please contact Natasha Farmer at NFarmer@pittsburgca.gov or call (925) 252-6938