City of Shoreline
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2023 Urban Forest Strategic Plan (UFSP)
The Urban Forest Strategic Plan outlines where Shoreline wants to go regarding its urban forest and ideas on how to get there. The plan is also intended to help promote a more unified effort to manage the entire urban forest between the City and residents, business owners, utilities, and other tree stewards in the community.
Overview and History
Shoreline became a recognized City by Tree City USA in 2013. To qualify for this designation, the City adopted Ordinance 617, creating a Tree Board, and Ordinance 627, a street tree ordinance.
In 2013, Shoreline also received a $10,000 Community Urban Forestry Assistance Grant from the Washington Department of Natural Resources (WA DNR) to create an Urban Forest Strategic Plan.
The Urban Forest Strategic Plan (UFSP) was reviewed by the community, staff, the Tree Board and City Council before its adoption by the City Council on May 19, 2014. The goal of this project is to establish priorities for an urban forest management program.
The first short-term implementation strategy in the UFSP was to update Shoreline's Street Tree List in the City's Engineering Development Manual. The Street Tree List is used when tree planting in the public right-of-way is required, and only applies to public street trees, not trees on private property. The new Street Tree List was approved by the Tree Board on December 4, 2014.
The UFSP and the update to the Recommended Street Tree List were funded by a grant from The Washington State Urban and Community Forestry (UCF) Program. The UCF provides technical, educational, and financial assistance to Washington’s cities and towns, counties, non-profit organizations, and associations.
In 2023, after almost ten years of Citywide growth and changes, an update of the plan was needed. After a thorough review by the community, staff, the Tree Board, and City Council, completed strategies were identified, and new strategies were created. These changes were integrated into the existing UFSP, and in the fall of 2023, the City Council approved the updated Urban Forest Strategic Plan 2023.