A New Plan for Trees in the 'City of Trees'

"In the City of Trees, a new ordinance might put more bite in protecting our bark," reports the clever opening of an article by Anita Chabria and Adam Ashton.

The Sacramento City Council recently approved a controversial ordinance that would establish new regulations for "safeguarding, maintaining and removing trees on both public and private land."

"Backers of the new ordinance say it will add protections for about 25,000 trees now excluded from city purview and create a long-term plan for preserving the leafy canopy of 100,000 trees viewed as a defining characteristic of the city," according to Chabria and Ashton.

The ordinance has its opponents, however, and the city had yet to achieve a consensus on the ordinance, days ahead of an expected vote by the City Council. Critics of the plan say it doesn’t go far enough to protect the city's trees.

Among many details reported in the article, Chabria and Ashton note that "the ordinance calls for the city to create a tree master plan to address policy issues such as canopy protections and ways to diversify tree species with ones more suited to the environment." A separate article by Cathy Locke reported the results of the City Council's vote.

Hat tip to Jen Kinney for sharing the news of Sacramento's tree ordinance.