The Urban Forest Manager (UFM) presented the first Annual UFM Report and the draft Urban Forest Master Plan at the City Council meeting, June 15, 2022. Marty Frye, the UFM, has requested comments by July 17, to be emailed to UrbanForestManager@TakomaParkMD.gov.

Both the Annual UFM Report and the multi-year master plan are requirements in the revised Tree Ordinance, passed by the Council in 2020. The Council also passed in 2020 a resolution on goals and principles to guide urban forest policies that directed City staff to prepare a multi-year master plan.

A FONTT team will submit comments on behalf of our group. Please share your reactions and ideas with the team by

• leaving a reply to this post (scroll down to Leave Reply), or
• sending an email to friendsofnativetreesintakoma@gmail.com

Note: To protect against trolls and bots, a Reply will only post after a Website Team member approves it,

If you would like to participate in the team that drafts the FONTT comments, please send an email to friendsofnativetreesintakoma@gmail.com.

The team will prepare the comments through exchanging emails. This method of collaboration proved both efficient and effective in preparing the native tree selection guide. In practical terms, producing the FONTT comments will probably require team members to respond to 5-10 emails per week for 2-3 weeks.

Summary of Key Links

Watch the June 15 Council meeting video. The UFM presentation begins at 1:14:50. Comments by the Mayor and Councilmembers begin at 1:57:00.

draft Urban Forest Management Plan

Annual Urban Forest Manager Report, 2022

Takoma Park Municipal Code 12.12.140 Reports to Council

Council Resolution on overarching goals and principles for urban forest policies

Photo credit: “Eastern bluebird on shagbark hickory tree” by hmclin is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.