Sacramento adopts Urban Forest Plan. Here’s what makes it so ambitious
As summer blazes on, the City of Trees has pledged to keep its name.
Sacramento’s city council unanimously resolved to adopt the Sacramento Urban Forest Plan Tuesday, aiming to nearly double the city’s existing tree canopy coverage by 2045.
Trees clean air, beautify neighborhoods and reduce the amount of heat absorbed and stored by urban infrastructure. They form a shady buffer for residents in urban heat islands such as Sacramento, where summer temperatures can climb as high as 116 degrees, and are associated with overall better health.
“Trees are not merely an aesthetic asset,” said Alex Binck, founder of ReWild Sacramento. “They are a critical life-saving infrastructure.”
Nineteen percent of Sacramento’s ground area currently rests under the shade of trees. Under the Urban Forest Plan, this number must increase to 35% — an ambitious goal that challenges the city to plant 25,000 trees annually over the next two decades, particularly in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas.
Remarks from council members focused on the plan’s goal of increasing equity through canopy expansion.
Parts of Sacramento have already hit the 35% target. As noted in a 2019 analysis by The Sacramento Bee, majestic willows and London plane trees shade 43% of Land Park, one of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods.
But others will face more challenges. The Bee found that tree canopy in less economically advantaged neighborhoods such as Del Paso Heights — where the average household makes $75,000 a year — barely reaches 16%.
In 2006, an Arizona State University study revealed that for every $10,000 increase in neighborhood median household income, the local temperature dropped by almost a third of a degree Celsius. Researchers attributed these decreased temperatures to increased coverage of vegetation such as trees, an investment that wealthier neighborhoods have the means to make.
The city’s plan will directly combat this by focusing on neighborhoods with the lowest tree canopy and the most socioeconomically disadvantaged populations.
“The Urban Forest Plan was developed with the guiding principle of equity,” said Rachel Patten, sustainability program manager.
The 11 members of the public who spoke at the meeting, all of whom supported the plan, emphasized the need for funding and management. Implementing the plan requires an estimated $12 million annually, double the city’s current urban forestry budget.
Daniel Pskowski, who worked as an arborist for the city for almost 30 years, even called for the establishment of a tree commission to ensure proper oversight of progress.
“I want you to be bold,” he said. “If there were a tree commission, this plan wouldn’t have taken 7 years to complete.”
The city is no stranger to ambitious arboreal projects. In 1982, upset by budget cuts to the city’s urban forest programs, residents formed the Sacramento Tree Foundation. The organization has planted over 500,000 trees in the Sacramento region since then.
Council member Eric Guerra successfully proposed an amendment to the plan, establishing a working group with city staff and key tree stakeholders to ensure close collaboration.
“The next 10 days are forecast at over 90 degrees,” Guerra said, “and I think all of us would have appreciated that, if 30 years ago, someone had decided to plant more trees.”
This story was originally published June 25, 2025 at 10:36 AM.