URBAN FOREST MASTER PLAN - Laserfiche WebLink

6 | CITY OF PLEASANTON URBAN FOREST MASTER PLAN INTRODUCTION | Why the City Needs an Urban Forest Master Plan Challenges Facing Urban Trees Beyond environmental impacts, trees in the urban landscape also face numerous challenges from human- caused factors throughout their lifecycle that are unique to trees growing in cities. To start, urban trees are unable to naturally propagate like trees in natural areas, meaning, just about every tree in the City was planted intentionally by someone, be it a City employee, resident, or business owner. It also means that if new trees are not regularly planted, or if trees being removed are not replaced, the urban forest will diminish throughout the City. Pleasanton’s urban forest relies on its community and publicly-driven urban forestry efforts to keep the forest alive and growing. Another human-related challenge affecting urban trees is how they are planted and maintained. There are many arboriculture best management practices (BMPs) that should be followed when planting and maintaining trees in an urban environment to give them the best chance of surviving and thriving into maturity. If these BMPs are not followed it can lead to tree health issues, future conflicts with surrounding infrastructure, or early mortality. Some of these poor management practices could include trees being planted at a site with insufficient growing space and soil volume, under watering young trees, and too frequent of pruning. Additional human-related challenges that make growing conditions challenging for urban trees include intentional or accidental damage from humans and pollution from cars and other urban-based chemicals (herbicides, fertilizers, etc.). When trees fail to thrive due to limited resources, conflicts with infrastructure as they mature, or are improperly maintained, there is potential for a decline in tree health. When this occurs, trees are removed from the landscape, losing their benefits for the community. Planning for, selecting, and planting the ‘right tree, in the right place,’ properly caring for trees to arboriculture standards, and replenishing the urban forest by planting new trees, are the first steps a city and its community can take to decrease the human factors related to trees being removed in an urban landscape. The UFMP considers both environmental and human challenges to urban trees and provides recommendations to mitigate these factors and ensure trees in the City can thrive alongside the people that benefit from them. Pleasanton’s Trees and Urban Forestry Program Pleasanton currently has a city-wide canopy cover of 25.3%, which is roughly 5% above the average canopy cover for a city in a grassland landscape according to a recent global study (Nowak and Greenfield 2020). Canopy cover is discussed in greater detail in the key findings and in section 1.3.2 below. While the City's canopy cover is doing well,