Florida's Trees
Our Priceless Urban Tree Canopy is DisappearingFlorida’s Trees
News, City Programs and Additional Resources
A healthy tree canopy is crucial to a community’s environmental well-being. Trees help cool urban heat islands and reduce energy consumption. Planted in the right areas they will also help reduce storm water runoff and help cities become more resilient.
That’s why it’s vitally important to plant, preserve and protect trees. Here are some important things to consider:
Planting
Many local governments have ongoing programs to plant trees in public spaces – along streets and in parks, schools, and playgrounds. If your city or town doesn’t have a tree planting, you and your neighbors should probably be asking why it doesn’t. Some Florida cities fund their tree planting programs in whole or in part from mitigation fees required by tree protection ordinances when owners clear land for development.
When planting, remember – “right tree, right place.” Plant native or Florida-friendly trees and never plant nuisance or invasive trees, such as Australian pine, camphor and Chinese tallow. A list of trees classified as invasive may be found on the Florida Invasive Species Council List.
Make sure the tree being planted won’t grow too large for the space. Will the roots damage sidewalks or foundations? If the tree requires frequent, severe pruning it’s probably the wrong tree for that space. Local urban foresters or county agricultural extension agents are great resources for advice on choosing the right tree for the space.
Preserving and Protecting
The cornerstone of protecting a community’s tree canopy is a strong, effective, and properly enforced tree protection ordinance. Most ordinances protect trees of a certain size, almost always with exemptions for dead or dying trees or invasive species, and sometimes with exemptions for single-family residential property. A good tree protection ordinance not only requires permits for removal but, when removal is necessary, also requires replacement planting or tree mitigation payments into a city-run tree fund.
Maintenance of the tree canopy is important to its growth and survival. A good maintenance program includes fertilization and pruning for the health of the tree.
When pruning your own trees, always follow best practices and avoid excessive pruning. For example, contrary to popular belief, crepe myrtles should need little or no pruning. If you’re committing “crepe murder” to keep a tree under control, you probably planted the wrong variety for the location.
Scenic Florida is happy to share these additional resources for your use in creating a beautiful and healthy tree canopy in your community.
All Things Trees by Local Govts
Trees – Trimming and Removal – Codes and Enforcement
“These two Kings and two Queens governed Narnia well, and long and happy was their reign. . . . And they made good laws and kept the peace and saved good trees from being unnecessarily cut down…”
Before Homeowner Went to Work
Back From Work – Suprise!
Before
Ugly “over the limit” tree trimming
Tampa Concentrating on Large Scale Offenders
Is Tampa’s tree canopy shrinking because of a change in state law?
“Tampa tree service company fined more than $234K for cutting down protected trees”
Resources
22 Benefits – Street Trees
Brochure Here(.pdf)
Florida Urban Forestry Council
A great resource on tree issues. Their monthly newsletter is always full of good information and their conferences are packed with all kinds of information on urban tree issues. https://fufc.org/
Planit Geo
They have many resources and news on their site. In 2022, Planit Geo did a two-part webinar on tree ordinances. Their webinars are archived and can be viewed online. https://planitgeo.com/urban-forestry-webinars/
Trees – Preemption
City of Tampa Response
Senate Bill 518 – Tampa’s Updated Interpretation of the Tree Removal Statutory Exemption, Fla. Stat. Sec. 163.045
2022-12-21 Tampa sb_518_citys_updated_interpretation_of_the_tree_removal_statutory_exemption.pdf
Florida’s Trees in the News
Making Room for Billboards: “A giant tree in Miami waterfront park was chopped down by the city — without city approval”
Photo: Jose A. Iglesias, elnuevoherald.com "A 35-foot tall ficus tree thought to be among the oldest in Maurice A. Ferré Park was chopped down by the city of Miami without any advance notice or a removal permit. What will take the beloved tree’s place? The city claims...
Stopping Rapid Tree Loss with Water Resources Improvements: “Tampa to plant 30,000 trees by 2023 to restore city’s canopy”
Photo: Fox 13 Tampa Photo: Fox 13 Tampa "The city of Tampa will be adding hundreds of trees in two communities as part of the mayor’s mission to plant 30,000 new trees by 2030. 'We were known, previously, as having one of the best tree canopies in the world,' Mayor...
“Cells of people living in greener areas age more slowly, research finds”
Photo: James Houser New Orleans/Alamy "Many studies have shown that people living in greener neighborhoods have several health benefits, including lower levels of stress and cardiovascular disease. But new research indicates that exposure to parks, trees and other...
Century long cycle of hurricanes help move Florida’s Mangroves north: “Part of the puzzle explained by centuries of history”
Photo: WJXT "Researchers have observed an increase in mangrove trees in southern Amelia Island, Florida, in recent years. This is well north of the plant’s typical cold-sensitive habitat. Historically, mangroves have been limited to southern Florida. However, they are...
“US climate change reforestation plans face key problem: lack of tree seedlings”
Photo: ChamilleWhite/Getty Images/iStockphoto/The Guardian "US tree nurseries do not grow enough trees and lack the plant species diversity to meet ambitious plans, research says Only 56 of 605 plant nurseries - 10% – grow and sell seedlings in the volumes...
“Tiny Forests With Big Benefits”
Photo: Cassandra Klos for The New York Times "The tiny forest lives atop an old landfill in the city of Cambridge, Mass. Though it is still a baby, it’s already acting quite a bit older than its actual age, which is just shy of 2. Its aspens are growing at twice the...
“Tampa’s tree canopy at 26-year low, report finds”
Photo: 2016 Tampa City of Tampa Tree Canopy and Urban Forest Analysis "Carley Morgan and her husband picked their South Tampa home, in part, because of the trees on the property. 'They make a difference on our energy cost and it makes the landscaping look so much...
“Bald cypress planting caps Key Biscayne’s recognition as Tree City USA”
Photo: Juan Castro Olivera "Key Biscayne residents will have it made in the shade soon, with 59 trees to be planted from a Miami-Dade County Neat Streets grant, and a 60th tree which was recently planted at Lake Park with the help of young students from the K-8...
“The English Property forest gets closer to Florida Forever’s 2024 buy list”
Photo: Patricia Moynihan / WFSU Public Media "Paul Russell Road is one of several that bisects the English property forest A plan to save part of the English Forest in Tallahassee from development has moved a step closer. The Acquisition and Restoration Council of...
Equitable? “The climate gains of urban trees”
Graphic: Climate Central analysis of U.S. Forest Service data; Map: Simran Parwani/Axios "From stormwater runoff prevention to reducing the impacts of extreme heat, tree canopies provide a host of health and climate resiliency benefits for those in urban landscapes....
Equitable Tree Program in Miami: “Caleb Center tree planting”
Photo: Miami-Dade County "Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and District 3 Commissioner Keon Hardemon were joined by other county officials and a group of children from Easter Seals for a tree planting ceremony last week at the Joseph Caleb Center. The...
“Tampa man started as a tree planting vigilante. Now he’s planted 30,000.”
Photo: Jefferee Woo, Times - From left, Lauren Mones of St. Petersburg, Florida Urban Forestry Council executive director Deborah Hilbert and Tampa Bay Reforestation and Environmental Effort president Will Moriaty plant an Olympian fig tree at the 22nd Street...
“Amelia Tree Conservancy: Nassau group celebrates a decade of minding the maritime forest”
Photo: Amelia Tree Conservancy "Deborah Arnold sits at the base of Kate's Tree, located in the middle of the road at Ash and Eighth streets in downtown Fernandina Beach. The ancient oak is named for Katherine Bailey, wife of a prominent businessman who lived one block...
“Green gardening: Phipps Ocean Park redo will be model for sustainability”
Photo: Kim Frisbie Photo: Kim Frisbie "I was fortunate to have a recent tour of the wonderful Phipps Ocean Park. This exciting project will be a tremendous gift to the residents of Palm Beach. The Preservation Foundation’s plans for the renovation of this 18-acre area...
Swift Results For Urban Tree Canopies “Restoring Nature Through the Miyawaki Method of Afforestation Environment”
Photo: The man-made forest at Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Higashi-Ōgishima Thermal Power Station in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture. Starting in the 1980s, saplings were planted at the site, first just one plant per square meter, as shown at left. Later plantings...
Manatee County Afforestation “These volunteers are working to slow down climate change one tiny forest at a time”
Photo: Daylina Miller, Wusfnews.edu "Volunteers at Heritage Harbour Park in Bradenton drill holes, haul mulch and nutrient-rich dirt, and plant trees and shrubs to create the area's first microforest. Forests store more than a quarter of the earth's carbon dioxide....
Black History Month in Jacksonville Includes Planting Fruit Trees “Volunteers plant fruit trees to aid area deemed food desert”
Photo: 200 fruit trees being planted at White Harvest Farms in Moncrief neighborhood, WJXT "Volunteers are doing their part to ensure one part of Jacksonville has easy access to fresh food. Fruit trees are being planted in that area [Moncrief] this weekend and Feb....
Yale Data “The little-known physical and mental health benefits of urban trees”
Data Chart: Created by Dana Nuccitelli using Datawrapper and data from Wolf et al. (2020), International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. "Trees slow climate change — and they help people live happier, healthier, and longer lives... But you may not...
“Miami-Dade County partners with One Tree Planted to increase urban forestry in neighborhoods with low tree canopy”
"Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department is partnering with One Tree Planted, a reforestation nonprofit, to plant more than 450 trees at Amelia Earhart Park in 2023. The plantings, led by Neat Streets Miami-Dade’s Million Trees initiative, will...
Placemaking “The big pink trumpet tree on Coffee Pot Bayou is in bloom. What’s its story?”
Photo: Dirk Shadd, Tampa Bay Times "The hot pink petals caught in the breeze over Coffee Pot Bayou, fluttering like snowflakes onto a lawn dotted with admirers. After all, it’s a great place to snap a pretty picture. Over the last week and a half, a steady stream of...
Using Trees to Calm Traffic
Photo: From article on CaseyTrees.org "During the COVID-19 pandemic, regional and national trends showed a sharp increase in vehicle-related fatalities – so much so that 2021 was the deadliest year on D.C. roads in over a decade. Since 2015, D.C. has participated in...
“University Of Florida Scientists Aim For More Tree Varieties To Ensure Urban Canopy Survives Pests, Diseases”
Andrew Koeser, UF/IFAS associate professor of environmental horticulture and a co-author of the study, conducts urban tree research. Photo: Deb Hilbert "When cities are dominated by only a few species, new infestations of pests and diseases from overseas can just move...
“Residents Protest Clearwater’s Plan To Cut Down Hundreds Of Trees”
Photo: Denise Buttacavoli "The Clearwater City Council put a hold on its city tree ordinance after 4,000 healthy trees were tagged for removal." "When Denise Buttacavoli left for work that morning, her front yard was fully shaded. When she returned home, she...
Is Tampa’s tree canopy shrinking because of a change in state law?
Photo: Times Files Tree advocates and builders reached what was called a historic compromise on protecting the city’s award-winning tree canopy in the spring of 2019. A week later, a new state law gutted much of Tampa’s and other local governments’ power to set rules...
High School Student in Jacksonville: “Arbor Day Tree Seed Giveaway”
"In honor of Florida Arbor Day, join us at the Arboretum for a TREE SEED GIVEAWAY sponsored by local non-profit CO2NSQUENCES.ORG! January 21 at 9 am. Limit 1 plant/tree per person. While supplies last. First come first served. About : CO2NSEQUENCES.ORG! High school...
“Pensacola reaches agreement to save Spring Street ‘heritage’ oak tree in North Hill”
Photo: Tony Giberson, PNJ.com "Pensacola has won the battle to preserve a 'heritage' oak tree on Spring Street in North Hill. The city and property owners Larry and Ellen Vickery signed an agreement that guarantees the 61-inch diameter tree will not be cut down in...
“Tampa tree service company fined more than $234K for cutting down protected trees”
Video: WTSP " City of Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said Miller & Sons LLC illegally cut down 28 protected trees in 2019. Tampa’s mayor is sending a strong message to anyone cutting down trees illegally in the city. Her message comes after a Tampa Bay area tree cutting...
“Best place to park? In the shade, of course!”
Photo: Scenic Jacksonville "We need many M????RE shade trees planted throughout Jacksonville, like this Southern Magnolia, to ensure cooler walking, dining, lounging, spectating, strolling, biking and yes, parking spaces." -- Scenic Jacksonville Visit Scenic...
Save Money on Air Conditioning: “More trees, not cooling centers, are South Florida’s answer to increasingly hot summers”
Lack of Shade Photo: Kimberly Miller "Late July blistered with sandy skies and soupy air in South Florida as a slug of Saharan dust drained clouds of rain while moisture clung to the surface like hot gum on a shoe. The combination of a dry middle atmosphere blocking...
“Pensacola developing tree database to learn status of every city-owned tree”
Photo: Tony Giberson "Pensacola will soon know the location, size and health status of every tree on city property. Over the next seven weeks, crews from the consulting firm Geosyntec will be in city parks and along city streets cataloging every tree into a new...
Fernandina Beach Commissioners dive into tree protection controversy and go ahead with vote to protect six Heritage Trees
Photo: Shown in Fernandina Observer "Amelia Island’s trees are beloved by its residents, and problems with protecting those trees will go before the Fernandina Beach City Commission at the Commissioners’ workshop in a couple weeks. The issue drew a number of people to...
“Here’s your hurricane to-do list for large trees on the Space Coast”
Photo: Sally Scalera, Florida Today A tree that is too close to sidewalks, driveways or streets is prone to blowing over in a storm. Photo: Sally Scalera, Florida Today Call in a certified arborist if you find a root girdling a large tree in your yard. "...Though I do...
Tree Canopy: Key West editorial on mitigating the damage caused by preemption of local control
Photo: Linda Grist Cunningham, in Key West Island News "Historically, the Key West tree canopy boasted little in the way of shade trees. We are an inhospitable, oolite limestone island in the middle of salt water. What green things we had were more scraggly than...
Key West: City recognized by Tree City USA ten times!
Photo: Chamber of Commerce showing Key West’s official tree: the royal poinciana. "...'Your community should be proud to live in a place that makes the planting and care of trees a priority, and you should be proud of a job well done!' wrote the Tree City team in a...
Technical Trees? Email Address for Each Public Tree “Befriending Trees to Lower a City’s Temperature”
Photo: Alana Holmberg, The New York Times "A program in Melbourne, Australia, that tracks every public tree — and even gives each an email address — is seen as a way to manage climate change. High in the branches of a 122-year-old Dutch Elm, two workers in a bucket...
Legal: “Is Tampa’s tree canopy shrinking because of a change in state law?”
Photo: Tampa Bay Times "Tree advocates and builders reached what was called a historic compromise on protecting the city’s award-winning tree canopy in the spring of 2019. A week later, a new state law gutted much of Tampa’s and other local governments’ power to set...
“Brevard County close to fencing off Malabar Sanctuary over tree cutting permit”
Video: Fox 35 Orlando "The Malabar Scrub Sanctuary is where the Florida scrub jay thrives. This sanctuary is specifically for protecting the beautiful blue and gray bird that exclusively calls Florida home. The area has also become a popular place for bikers and...
Legislation – SB 518 Clearwater Neighborhoods Coalition weighs in on restoring local control of tree removal and trimming
Photo: Florida Senate "Background In 2019, the Florida Legislature passed a law that banned local governments from enforcing many of their tree ordinances. This left cities and counties powerless to protect healthy trees from people with less than good intentions. The...
Environment: “Destiny’s death buys time for a Florida frontier and the birth of conservation movements”
Photo: Kevin Spear, Orlando Sentinel "The expanse of wild lands between Central and South Florida was given a second chance for conservation when, in the heart of it, the Destiny development was reincarnated as DeLuca Preserve. This landscape picture here is from the...
“South Florida brothers team up to restore world’s lost mangroves”
Video: Watch here Local10.com WPLG "For over 100 years as South Florida’s coastline was developed, acres upon acres of mangroves were destroyed in the process. In recent years we’ve begun to understand just how vital mangroves are to protecting our shores and cleaning...
“A micro forest is being planted in Sarasota to combat climate change – The Suncoast Urban Reforesters will be planting more than 1,000 trees.”
Video: 10 Tampa Bay "The Stoneybrook Golf and Country Club in Sarasota will soon be home to a microforest in an effort to combat climate change. Members of the Suncoast Urban Reforesters (SURF) were out on Wednesday prepping for their plans to plant more than 1,000...
“$1.1 billion riverfront master plan proposed for downtown Jacksonville”
Photo: Gallery in Jacksonville Daily Record "Jacksonville developer Steve Atkins says he wants to lead a nearly $1.1 billion redevelopment of mostly city-owned property, including the former Jacksonville Landing, on a stretch of the Downtown Northbank riverfront. At...
“South Florida teen planting the seeds of life with mangrove nonprofit”
Photo: Mangrolife FB "Jonah Basi may be 16 years old and a junior at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, but he’s got a big vision for what he wants South Florida to look like in the future. 'I want to see huge green mangroves all along the seawalls that I know are...
“The Florida State Parks Foundation wants to plant ANOTHER 100,000 new pine trees”
Photo: Volusia Country "It worked last year. Why not do it again?" "Last week, the Florida State Parks Foundation reached its goal of raising $100,000 in one year to plant 100,000 new longleaf pine trees in our state parks. So why not run it back? The foundation...
Community Greening at work in South Florida: “Pine Grove Elementary gets spruced up with 200 trees”
Photo: Pebb Capital, Sun Sentinel "Pine Grove Elementary School in Delray Beach was recently beautified with the addition of 200 trees on its campus. The newly planted trees are part of a citywide tree relocation program created by Sundy Village and Pebb Capital...
“Arbor Day celebration smaller because of pandemic, but still meaningful”
Photo: Meghan McCarthy, Palm Beach Daily "Putting on gray work gloves and yellow helmets, students from local elementary schools Thursday morning helped celebrate Florida Arbor Day by planting a kapok tree at Phipps Ocean Park in Palm Beach. 'This is hard work. But...
“In honor of Sallye Garrigan Jude”
Photo: Coral Gables Garden Club "The Coral Gables Garden Club members voted unanimously to dedicate “Project Canopy” to our dear Life Member, Sallye Jude. The City of Coral Gables honored the Coral Gables Garden Club and Sallye Jude for her environmental work by...
Tree Planting: “Planting helps restore longleaf pine forests in Florida, other coastal states”
Photo: AP in Tampa Bay Times "Scientists estimate that longleaf savannas once covered an area bigger than Germany. By the 1990s, less than 3 percent remained in scattered patches. When European settlers came to North America, fire-dependent savannas anchored by lofty...
“Trees on the Coast plants 10 trees at South Walton Elementary School”
Photo: Land Air Sea Photography, in Northwest Florida Daily News "Trees on the Coast, a local environmental nonprofit, planted 10 trees during a planting ceremony on Nov. 13 at Van R. Butler Elementary School... Principal Jimmy Ross and 40 students participated in...
“Taking care of trees in Northeast Florida”
Photo: A lion tailed tree, Larry Figart "Sometimes we take trees for granted. We see them as the pillars in our landscape and sometimes forget that they are living things that need the same conditions to live and thrive as our favorite flower, shrub or groundcover......
Florida Forest Service: Urban Forestry and Community Grant Programs
Photo: Florida Politics "The Florida Forest Service...announced that applications are now being taken for three community and urban forestry grant programs. 'Urban forestry accounts for over 80,000 jobs and contributes more than $8 billion to Florida’s economy,' said...
“Cape Coral tree planters say the shade that will come will improve the city’s future”
Photo: Fort Myers News-Press "A group of Cape Coral residents spent Saturday morning throwing shade around the city, but it could be a few years before it provides results. The shade thrown was in the guise of hundreds of slash pine seedlings planted near the...
“Garden Club seeks to celebrate Tallahassee’s trees with Third Live Oak Trail”
Photo: Donna Meredith "The Tallahassee Garden Club is asking you to nominate your favorite live oak to become part of the Third Live Oak Trail. The next time you walk through your neighborhood or on a local trail, take time to appreciate the live oaks and snap a...
Palm Beach: Planting native trees
Photo: Kim Frisbie, Palm Beach Daily News "...Trees protect coastal communities from severe flooding and storms by slowing water’s strength and absorbing excess water in the soil, preventing billions of gallons of runoff annually. And let’s not forget ecological...
“Ormond Beach to plant over 100 palm trees in Granada Boulevard medians. Lethal Bronzing Disease has infected and killed palm trees in 31 Florida counties. City staff said that likely won’t happen here.”
Photo: Brian Bahder, UF/IFAS "For over a decade, palm trees in Florida have been facing a plague with no cure...Lethal Bronzing Disease (LBD). City Landscape Architect Cara Culliver said there have been no cases of the disease in Volusia County. The palms that were...
Rethinking Plant Adaptation Photo: Sebastián Mejía, Paris Review
Photo: From a Paris Review article on a variety of studies about plant adaption and reaction. -- Cody Delistraty, Paris Review Read entire article
Tracey Arpen presented with 2019 Charles E. Bennett Champion of the Environment Award
"...The Charles E. Bennett Champion of the Environment Award which was created in 2001 originally by the Florida Coastal School of Law. The Jacksonville Environmental Protection Board took over presenting the award in 2010. The award is presented to recognize someone...
“Trees transplanted on Florida’s highways provide motorists’ benefits”
Photo: As seen in Villiages News "...Beauty and stress relief are probably the two most meaningful benefits trees bring to highways,' said Andrew Koeser, an assistant professor of environmental horticulture with the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences......
“When are trees worth millions of dollars? When they cover parts of your city.”
Photo: Water Institute, USF "Take Tampa, for example, which has established an Urban Forest Management Plan. According to a 2016 assessment by the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and the University of South Florida, the city’s 32.3...
700 hundred new trees planned: “The new St. Pete Pier is now getting trees”
Photo: From article in FLAPOL "The new St. Pete Pier is getting its first touches of nature this week. The city began planting the first of 700 trees throughout the district... The first round of tree planting is happening in the marketplace area of the new pier...
“City of Sarasota’s Community Canopy Program Returns”
Photo: Thomas Bender, Sarasota Herald Tribune "The Community Canopy program, which gives away free trees to help expand the urban canopy while reducing energy bills, has returned to the City of Sarasota. In partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation and the Florida...
BREAKING NEWS Legislative Alert: Tree trimming preemption to abolish city and county tree protections
"Tree pruning, trimming, or removal on residential property" "...A local government may not enforce an ordinance or regulation governing the pruning, trimming, or removal of trees on residential property which requires a permit, an application, the provision of...
West Palm Beach: “Vegetation Vigilante” going out on a limb to fix stalled out beautification project
Photo: WPTV, West Palm Beach "People are going out on a limb to make a statement about beautification on Clematis Street in downtown West Palm Beach. And it's turned into a unique and fun display of public disobedience. 'Someone has to "bark" at them,' said Jim...
“Protecting Florida’s Waters by Planting Trees”
Photo: WGCU Pixabay "We’re looking at a preemptive approach to reducing the possibility of harmful algae blooms by reducing the amount of nutrients from stormwater runoff that wind up in the water in the first place -- by planting trees. A local nonprofit called...
“How planting trees is helping to solve the water crisis in SWFL”
Photo: Abc-7.com "More than fifty people spent the morning planting hundreds of trees in Cape Coral to help with the water crisis in Southwest Florida. The event was originally intended to help with deforestation, but more roots in the ground could help prevent future...
Legal: “Trees for the planting, thanks to tree mitigation fund”
Photo: Resident Community News "If you’ve always wanted or needed to plant a tree in the right-of-way in front of your property, now you can, thanks to the City of Jacksonville’s tree settlement with a variety of civic groups in July 2017. The suit filed in 2015 by...
“FPL looks to cities, counties to regulate tree trimming for next storm season”
Photo: Sun Sentinel "Toppled trees left many South Florida residents in the dark after Hurricane Irma... Ninety percent of FPL’s customers, or 13 million people, lost power as a result of Irma. One of those people without power for 10 days was Broward County...
Legal: In Kenya, county “pulls down billboards of firms that illegally fell or poison trees”
Photo: Collins Langat, The Star, Kenya "The county says it will pull down billboards owned by at least five advertising firms, which it says are notorious for illegally felling trees on major roads. It plans to start this week. Some trees even have been poisoned by...
State Control of Tree Cutting? “Clearing trees from I-95 in Georgia will make roads safer, DOT says”
Photo: The Florida Times Union "The drive along Interstate 95 in Georgia gets uglier by the day as trees are taken down, but state transportation officials say the clear cutting will improve safety. The 'vegetative management projects' along I-95 are aimed at reducing...
Educational Video on Local Control
Image: Keep it Local Florida -- Keep it Local Florida View video and other materials on the KeepItLocalFlorida.org website
Legal: “Jax City Council defends tree canopy against ‘sledgehammer’ government in Tallahassee”
Photo: Steve Bisson "The Jacksonville City Council approved legislation this week that opposes a state bill (HB 521/SB 574) that would cut the heart out of the city’s tree canopy protections. The state bill, filed by Republican Greg Steube in the Senate and Democrat...
Legal Alert: Tree trimming preemption “Steube files bill to abolish city and county tree protections”
Photo: Herald Tribune The Bills in Senate and House: https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2018/00574 https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2018/521 "City and county rules protecting trees are the next battleground in the rolling fight between local governments and...
Florida League of Cities: Oppose state’s tree control preemption
"SB 574 (Steube) and HB 521 (Edwards) preempt to the state the trimming, removal or harvesting of trees and timber on private property, and prohibit local governments from restricting these activities on private property. The bills also prohibit local...
Tampa: “…Tracking how much money their trees are earning them every year”
Photo: Tampa Bay Times "Your parents were wrong: money does grow on trees. Cities routinely rake up tens of millions of dollars from their urban forests annually in ways that are not always obvious. Leafy canopies lower summer air conditioning bills, but more shade...
Jacksonville: Comprehensive tree survey approved
"...Last month the city Environmental Protection Board approved a $103,000 proposal from Greenscape and Public Trust Environmental Legal Institute of Florida for a citywide tree survey. The measure must be approved by the City Council, which could take three or four...