Jamestown residents can weigh in next week on a plan calling for thousands of new trees in a major expansion of the city’s tree canopy.
Trees currently cover about 12.9% of Jamestown. The city’s draft Urban Forest Management Plan sets a citywide goal of 35% coverage by 2050, with no residential area of the city below 20%. Parks, waterways, streets, schools and downtown sidewalks are among the proposed priorities for new trees.
The plan calls for planting about 6,240 trees over the next 24 years. It also recommends diversifying the trees planted around Jamestown to limit the damage caused by insects or disease.
Ash trees make up a large portion of the city’s existing inventory. The draft recommends stopping additional ash plantings and replacing ash trees with other species as they die.
Officials say goals include completing an inventory of public trees, recruiting and training volunteers and eliminating invasive buckthorn by 2050.
The public input meeting runs from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, July 30, in the City Council chambers at City Hall.
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