Urban Forest Management Plan

Chesterfield's City officials and residents have recognized the benefits of trees and realized the need to protect this investment by implementing a comprehensive urban forest management program for the public street trees. This program began in 2009 with an inventory of the public trees and their present condition. The inventory was completed in 2010, and has provided important information outlining Chesterfield's public street trees and their management. Chesterfield's urban forest is valued at over 30 million dollars.

Goals
The information obtained during the inventory has allowed the City to identify several goals:

  1. Improve species diversity by continuing to administer the Residential Street Tree Program, continuously review the Approved Tree List and make changes or additions when appropriate, and make species diversity a priority in city parks and city and private development projects.
  2. In a healthy urban forest, no one type of tree should make up more than 10% of the total population. Inventory results showed that only three tree types make up 72% of Chesterfield's street tree population. Moving forward, tree planting projects will focus on using under-utilized tree species. When planting trees on their own property, residents are encouraged to do this as well.

    Improve age diversity through the Residential Street Tree Program, and by continuously planting new trees in parks and other public land.
    This graph shows the most populous genus on Chesterfield's streets, Ash trees. Most Ash trees are between 7-19" in diameter, which tells us that they are also very close in age.
  3. Continuously remove street trees identified as being dead or in poor or critical condition. Improve overall urban forest health by providing easy-to-access tree care information to homeowners. If a resident has a street tree in front of their home that they believe is dead or in poor health, they can call the City at 636-537-4000 to request an inspection for removal.
  4. Keep the tree inventory up to date, so the above goals are realized on a continuous and sustainable basis.