Title
Notice/Advertisement Title: Tree Technical Manual Adoption
Contact Name: Rosalie Hendon
Contact Telephone Number: (614) 639-0673
Contact Email Address: rfhendon@columbus.gov
Body
Columbus Recreation and Parks Department
Tree Technical Manual Adoption
The City of Columbus Urban Forestry Master Plan (UFMP) was approved by City Council in 2021 and is a strategic plan to prioritize, preserve, and grow our tree canopy over the next decades. One of the key actions in the UFMP is to update public tree protections in the City of Columbus.
Public trees are all trees growing on City-owned properties. In Columbus, approximately 30% of the overall tree canopy grows on public land and includes more than 126,000 street trees. Protecting these trees is important to the UFMP’s canopy goals, particularly, stopping net tree canopy loss by 2030.
Columbus City Codes gives authority over all trees planted or to be planted on City-owned property to the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department. Columbus City Council passed amendments to City Codes Chapter 912, Trees and Shrubs, to modernize our public tree protections on December 11, 2023. Enforcement of the new code began on August 1, 2024.
One of the updates to Chapter 912 granted authority to the Director of Recreation and Parks to promulgate rules and regulations to implement the code. The Tree Technical Manual is hereby promulgated as these rules and regulations and will take effect September 3, 2024.
The Tree Technical Manual may be found online at <https://columbusrecparks.com/nature/urban-forestry/tree-technical-manual/> and is also attached to this notice.