Urban Forestry Program

Spokane Urban Forestry is responsible for overseeing the maintenance and enhancement of both public trees and street trees including those along parking strips, boulevards and parks within the city limits. Staff at Urban Forestry do the following:

 

  • Issue permits to plant, prune, or remove public trees. 

  • Are responsible for notifying property owners on issues relating to street trees and city projects. Examples include notification of hazard trees, sign blockage, and clearance pruning for city street work.

  • Review pre-development plans and landscape plans that involve street trees.

  • Work with advisory committees, citizen groups, partner organizations and decision makers to update policy and programs that better facilitate the regulation and enhancement of the urban forest.

  • Collaborate with certified arborists to ensure work is performed in accordance with required arboricultural specifications and standards.

  • Urban Forestry crews also perform work throughout the city. Their work consists of planting trees along rights-of-way and in parks, pruning and removing park trees, signal and sign clearance, and other emergency work in the right-of-way and publicly owned property.