IN OCTOBER 2023, the City of Worcester released a draft Urban Forest Master Plan (UFMP), issuing ten recommendations meant to guide the further preservation, management, and expansion of Worcester’s urban forest—and in particular, Worcester’s public “street trees.” The UFMP is a vision, a first-step, intended to guide long-term budgets and inform other management plans going forward by the City’s Forestry Operations, a unit of the Department of Public Works and Parks. The plan emphasizes a transformation from reactive to proactive management; not only engaging with resident concerns, but anticipating them. This marks a turn towards equity and the importance of climate resilience, while it stresses continued focus on prevention and protection against all manner of threats to the urban forest, whether pests (like the Asian Longhorned Beetle or the Spotted Lanternfly), disease, or other natural phenomena.

The phrase “urban forest” might simply evoke images of the trees that cover Newton Hill or Green Hill Park, but in reality the “urban forest” refers to all the trees (and other greenery) within the city limits. It covers the trees in the parks, certainly, but also street trees and residential trees. However, the Urban Forest Master Plan draft, while urging for a comprehensive tree canopy assessment, focuses especially on Worcester’s 23,137 street trees, and indicates a desire on the part of the City of Worcester to more proactively manage those street trees as a key part of that urban forest.

The release of the Urban Forest Master Plan follows a long history of urban forest management in the City, including 37 consecutive years as a Tree City USA recipient and 24 consecutive years as a Tree City USA Growth Award Recipient. The UFMP concept was first identified as part of the 2013 Open Space and Recreation Plan, and its development was further refined in the Green Worcester Plan released in 2020. Developing an Urban Forestry Plan was an integral aspect of the Green Worcester Plan’s theme of Connected Green and Blue Spaces. Its authors called for an updated tree and canopy inventory, guidelines for tree removal and replacement, and to prioritize the expansion of trees of all kinds in the urban core. The planning process itself began in late 2021, with the first public meeting held on November 17, 2021, and was written with Davey Resource Group. The Urban Forest Master Planning process began just before the official start of the Urban Forestry Tree Commission. That Commission was first proposed at an August 10, 2021 meeting of the City Council, and began accepting applications for members on January 17, 2022.