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COMMUNITY FORESTRY
General Information
Trees are a valuable resource for the community that enhance the quality of life of our citizens, benefit the environment and provide habitat for a variety of fauna. The Bonney Lake Comprehensive Plan encourages the planting and preservation of trees. The City desires to support tree planting and replacement on City-owned properties and rights-of-way, recognizing the benefits of trees and the promotion of the care and replacement of trees in the community.
To establish the City’s community forestry program, the City adopted a community forestry ordinance, codified as BLMC 12.24.
This ordinance establishes a community forestry plan to manage the municipally owned trees in the City. It DOES NOT regulate trees on private property. The key elements of the ordinance include:
¤ Designates the Public Works Department as the “Tree Department”. In reality this would currently be the parks section of PW.
¤ Calls for the development and implementation of a community forestry program manual (urban forestry plan);
¤ Designates the Parks Board as an advisory tree board to review the community forestry plan, and serve as the hearing body on “heritage trees” (which they have agreed to do)
¤ Establishes a voluntary program to designate “heritage trees”;
¤ Prohibits defacing or injuring public trees (in City parks or ROW).
TreeCity USA
In 2005 the City was awarded “TreeCity USA” Status. That status was renewed in 2006. TreeCity USA is sponsored by The National Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters. For more information on TreeCity USA, visit The Arbor Day Website.
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