Urban Forest Master Plan

Urban Forest Master Plan Cover

The Urban Forest Master Plan serves as a roadmap for how the Syracuse community can work together to protect, preserve and grow our urban tree canopy.

Read The Full Plan(PDF, 51MB)

View Tree Inventory Database

Why Trees?

There are an estimated 1.5 million trees within Syracuse's city limits. This collective urban forest covers 27% of the city and provides approximately $9.1million in benefits every year.

Vision

Citizens of Syracuse will enjoy a high quality of life through an abundant, resilient and safe urban forest that is integrated into city-wide planning and our everyday lives. 

Mission

To grow and sustain an urban forest that is cherished by its citizens.

Goals

We intend to advance Syracuse's urban forest master plan by working towards three goals:

Strategies 

Achieving the desired forest of the future requires long-term vision and a commitment to work in “tree life-cycles”⁠—not electoral or administrative cycles. Creating a sustainable urban forest and a proactive management program requires coordination, collaboration, and expert input from multiple disciplines, including planning, engineering, urban design, landscape architecture, economics, and sustainability. Likewise, the community’s sense of place and capacity for change needs to be understood and included in decisionmaking to ensure a responsive approach when managing Syracuse’s urban forest. The following 12 strategies are offered as a means to achieve stated goals and to be responsive to the needs of the citizens: