The City of Austin is drafting its first comprehensive Urban Forest Plan.
The city hopes to work with Austinites to pinpoint areas of problem tree conditions and to look at possible solutions to transform the drought-stricken city into a truly green one.
Angela Hanson is the City of Austin’s urban forester. She says the differences in Austin’s urban canopy can be attributed in part to the vastly different geography of the east and west sides of town. But that’s not the end of the story. “As many folks know, there are lots of differences culturally, socially – east versus west too.” But as an Urban Forester, Hanson is not trying to impose a uniform vision for the city.
Rather, she’d like the community’s input on how to use of local resources and maximize the number and quality of trees that different parts of town can sustain. But with limited resources, the city’s looking for feedback on what to prioritize:
There’s several ways you can provide your input:
- The city is hosting an open house right now at Ruiz Library until 7 p.m.
- You can leave your feedback online regarding Austin’s urban forest plan
- Answer the city’s funding survey
- Respond to the city’s performance indicators survey
- Answer the city’s policy elements survey
Listen to KUT’s story on the urban forestry plan above – including how one Austin neighborhood ended up fundraising for a $10,000 irrigation system able to sustain 100 new trees at its area park.
