Council approves initiative to conduct inventory of public trees

On Thursday, City Council elevated the significance of Austin’s trees by initiating a comprehensive inventory of the city’s trees alongside a detailed tree planting and maintenance strategy.

The measure follows Council’s approval last month of a direction for more street trees and green infrastructure on future city right-of-way projects.

Both actions are part of a growing checklist of steps the city is taking toward achieving the goals outlined in Austin’s climate equity plan.

“Trees are a critical part of our infrastructure, just like roads, pipes and the energy grid. Just as we wouldn’t operate our water utility without a pipe map, we need to have an understanding of our tree infrastructure,” said Council Member Ryan Alter, who sponsored the tree survey item as part of a package of green proposals he’s introduced during his term. As the resolution further states, trees are the only part of the city’s infrastructure that increase in value over time.

Alter said recent technological innovations such as artificial intelligence and LiDAR (light detection and ranging) would give the city the ability to conduct an inventory “quickly, reliably and cheaply.” The inventory would cover trees in city parks and other city properties. With the additional creation of a tree planting and maintenance plan, Alter added, “we can get ourselves one step closer to our Austin climate equity plan of 50 percent tree cover by 2050.”

Alter’s resolution lists several U.S. cities that have recently undertaken tree inventories, including Texas cities Dallas and Denton.

Speaking on the item before the vote, Bill Bunch, executive director of the Save Our Springs Alliance, urged Council to extend the tree survey to include trees located on private property to gain a greater understanding of the state of Austin’s tree population.

Alter’s co-sponsors on the resolution were Council members Vanessa Fuentes, Chito Vela, Alison Alter and Mayor Pro Tem Leslie Pool.

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