Work has begun on the City’s street tree inventory project that will assist City staff in identifying stormwater management opportunities and inform urban forestry planning and management. This inventory will be integrated into the City's street tree management tool and the City's Geographical Information System (GIS.)

The new inventory and its analysis will provide City staff crucial data about the structure, condition, value, and function of its public trees. The trees to be inventoried are within the City’s street rights-of-way.

Workers from the Davey Resource Group, a division of the Davey Tree Expert Company, plan to gather the data through November of this year.

Taking stock of the urban forest with a tree inventory helps a community develop a plan of action to manage its community forest and achieve community goals for a safe, healthy, sustainable community tree resource.

Little bit about Spokane Urban Forestry: Their staff manages 50,000 street trees and another 28,000 trees on developed park land within the City of Spokane. City arborists help manage the urban forest by planting and maintaining trees throughout the City. The thinning of trees in some areas is also done to improve the overall health of various stands of trees in the City’s park system. Improving the City’s urban forest is an ongoing project that will take decades of work and careful management. In 2010 Spokane received its seventh year in a row designation as a Tree City USA. That program is sponsored by The National Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters. For more information please call 509.363.5470 or go online to www.spokaneurbanforestry.org

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