Landmark Trees

Posted by Sheila Redick on January 31, 2006

San Francisco's Urban Forestry Ordinance now permits awarding landmark designation to trees, even those on private property. The change, which takes effect in February, places "San Francisco squarely in a growing movement, from suburban Washington to Los Angeles, to protect mature urban trees -- and in some communities, make it a crime to chop them down," according to Patricia Leigh Brown's story in The New York Times (1.30.06).

Over the past 25 years, cities have lost up to 30 percent of their tree canopy to development. And citizens, with bi-partisan support, are fighting back. Even the executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Charlotte, where developers must preserve 10 percent of a subdivision's area in trees and save all "heritage trees," told NYT that the policy "creates an inconvenience for the developer as far as density, but it certainly pays off in the price of the home."

More information on policies to protect trees is available from the Casey Trees Endowment Fund in Washington.