City Council to vote on proposed Urban Forestry Department

City Council to vote on proposed Urban Forestry Department

The City Council will soon decide on creation of an Urban Forestry Department to manage the Great Trinity Forest. The Urban Forest Advisory Committee told the City’s Quality of Life Committee that the department would secure outside grants and funding to begin the process of maintaining and expanding the Urban forest and leverage public funding.

The Committee said protecting and replanting trees will improve air quality and reduce the impact of heat. The Committee told the Quality of Life Committee that more trees are cut down in the city of Dallas than are planted every year.

Currently, no urban foresters oversee or manages the 14.7 million trees in medians and parkways. One urban forester oversees the Great Trinity Forest watershed, which provides 20% of all tree benefits to the Greater Dallas Area.

The new department would maintain the current urban forest and plant replacement trees to offset losses due to age and development. They would work with the Trinity Watershed Management and the Corp of Engineers to manage the Forest.

The Quality of Life Committee voted unanimously to have the full council vote on establishing the new department.

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