The City of Knoxville released its first Urban Forestry Progress Report during last night’s City Council meeting. 

“Knoxville has made many strides in recent years in improving our urban forest,” said Kasey Krouse, the City’s Urban Forester. “I think it is important to address those accomplishments but also provide an update for what we need to do moving forward.”
 
The report is the first of what will be an annual status reporting of the City’s urban forestry program and progress on goals and objectives. Some future plans mentioned in the report include establishing goals for citywide canopy and completing an individual tree inventory within parks and along City streets.

“The management of urban forest resources is a dynamic and fluid process,” Krouse said. “Throughout the year, we will be continually updating policies and action items necessary to reflect the efforts of the Urban Forestry Division.” 

Notable milestones included in the report:

• The City of Knoxville completed a comprehensive tree canopy study in 2014. The studies show that the City of Knoxville had a 40 percent tree cover in 1997 and, as of 2010, still has a 40 percent tree cover within the City.

• The city planted 565 trees during the 2014 planting season and is expected to plant 552 trees during the 2015 planting season.

• The City of Knoxville and Knox County are currently drafting recommendations for tree planting within parking lots to mitigate storm water runoff from impervious surfaces as new federal clean water standards are beginning to require that the first 1-inch of runoff be infiltrated.

For more information on the City’s urban Forestry Program visit the website: http://www.knoxvilletn.gov/trees. You can view the Urban Forestry Progress Report at: http://www.knoxvilletn.gov/UserFiles/Servers/Server_109478/File/PublicService/Trees/state_of_urban_forest2015.pdf.