To: Honorable Mayor and Members of City Council
From: Breyana Brandt, Parks & Recreation Director
Prepared By: Jeff Gittings, Parks and Urban Forestry Manager
TITLE:
Title
Urban Forestry Management Plan Overview
LABEL
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommendation
Provide City Council with an update and overview of the Urban Forestry Management Plan, a guiding document for protecting, preserving, planning and promoting Napa’s Urban Forest.
Body
DISCUSSION:
Background
The City of Napa commenced work on the Urban Forestry Management Plan (UFMP) in 2022. This work is supported by the 2021/2022 Cal Fire Urban and Community Forestry Grant, which is the funding source that supported the development of the UFMP for the City of Napa. One of the grant requirements was to complete an UFMP, a plan intended to help guide the City of Napa forestry program over the next 40 Years, supporting the City‘s efforts to protect, preserve, plan and promote the urban forest for feature generations.
The city partnered with two organizations during the development of the UFMP - Davey Resource Group (DRG) was the consulting firm selected to lead the project, and Napa Resource Conservation District (NRCD), who was primarily tasked with the associated community outreach and education related to the UFMP.
The Parks and Recreation Services Department has worked closely with the Parks, Recreation and Trees Advisory Commission (Commission) during the development of the UFMP, seeking input and feedback from the Commission at various points through plan development. On February 18th, 2026, the Commission unanimously approved the Final Draft of the Urban Forestry Management Plan and recommended the plan move forward to City Council.
Plan Summary
The City of Napa’s first UFMP was developed over the course of the last 4 years and the process included significant work in data collection, including a comprehensive GIS based tree inventory, aerial imagery, canopy data, operational and policy data review as well as community input (including a community survey) and industry best practices. The plan development included a text only Draft (1), Draft (2) which included imagery, tables and recommendations which culminated in Final Draft which incorporated comments and suggestions from the review of Draft (2).
The plan is 85 pages in length and includes images, tables, quotes from the public, data sets and goals and recommendations. The plan is comprised of 6 key sections:
1. The Executive Summary
2. The Introductions which include the Vision Statement for Napa’s Urban Forest
3. Section 1: “What do we have?”
4. Section 2: “What do we want?”
5. Section 3: “How do we get there?”- Goals and Recommendations Section
6. Section 4: “How are we doing?”
Key Findings and Next Steps
This project has created numerous opportunities for the Department to gain valuable insights into the City‘s Urban Forest, providing a framework to guide preservation, promotions and protection of the Urban Forest.
Key Findings:
• Napa’s forest has removed 225,000 pounds of air pollutants, reduced stormwater runoff by 53 million gallons annually and sequestered 4,500 tons of carbon.
• Napa’s tree’s canopy covers approximately 2,528 acres or 21.5% of the land surface.
o Approximately three quarters of the canopy is located on private property.
o Napa has seen an increase of approximately 400 acres of canopy from 2012 to 2022. Representing an 18% increase in canopy.
• The UFMP inventoried approximately 34,000 trees that are under the jurisdiction of the city. This includes street trees, park trees and trees located at city facilities.
• The “Goals and Recommendations” section of the UFMP includes an in-depth goal and recommendations sections that are structed under, Preserve, Protect, Promote and Plan.
The Department will utilize the UFMP to guide the Department in its management of the City’s Urban Forest. The Goals and Recommendations section outlines numerous implementation efforts and highlights several initiatives that are already “in-progress” as implementation efforts are already underway in several key areas. Staff will continue to work to complete these tasks as well as begin implementing longer-term goals.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS:
There are no financial impacts.
CEQA:
City staff recommend that the City Council determine that the Recommended Action is exempt from CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guideline 15301 as the Plan constitutes the maintenance of the City’s existing trees and maintenance of existing landscaping is noted as an example under CEQA Guideline 15301(h).
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
ATCH 1 - Urban Forestry Management Plan (Final Draft)
ATCH 2 - Urban Forestry Management Plan Presentation
NOTIFICATION:
None.