Posted on September 4, 2020by SF Forest Alliance
One would think that in these times of climate change and San Francisco’s small and shrinking tree canopy, every effort would be made to save the trees we already have. San Francisco already has only a 13.7% tree canopy cover, less than any other major city.
It’s not happening. San Francisco resident Wendy J Oakes was dismayed to find a number of beautiful trees marked for destruction.
The reasons? That they might potentially fail – which is true of any tree. And, they’re an “Invasive Species.” Given that they were *planted* there, it’s pretty clear they are not invading anything. San Francisco has no native trees. It was sand dunes and scrub. These “reasons” could be used to cut down any tree at all in our city. (We will try to obtain a clearer picture of this notice.)
SAN FRANCISCO’S SCANTY URBAN TREE CANOPY
It’s not as though San Francisco is so heavily forested that it can afford to wantonly destroy its trees, especially the mature well-established ones. Its tree cover is only 13.7%, less than any major city.
San Francisco Has the Least Canopy Cover of any Major US City
In fact, even the city government admits that, in the Planning Department’s Urban Forest Plan.
“Small and Shrinking Tree Canopy
San Francisco has one of the smallest tree canopies of any major U.S. city.
San Francisco was naturally a non-forested environment with fewer trees than east coast or other forested environments. Today, the City’s urban tree canopy (13.7%), measured by the amount of land covered by trees when viewed from above, is one of the smallest of any large U.S. city – less than Los Angeles (21%), Chicago (17%) and New York City (24%) – and unfortunately, it’s on the decline. New plantings are not keeping pace with tree removals and mortality, while tens of thousands of potential street tree planting spaces remain empty.”
Cutting down healthy and mature trees is certainly one of the reasons that this tree canopy is shrinking instead of growing.
