open house & Presentation
Tuesday, April 2, 2019

On April 2, the City held a public meeting to highlight the City's recent street tree inventory, the state of our public shade trees, and how this resource brings economic benefits to Framingham.

Presentation slides (PDF)

Poster boards:

1. Project Summary (PDF)
2. Economic Benefits (PDF)
3. Public Shade Trees (PDF)
4. Tree Distribution (PDF)
5. Species Diversity (PDF)

Event flyer: English (PDF) | Português (PDF) | Español (PDF) 

In an effort to enhance the environmental quality of Downtown and nearby South Framingham neighborhoods, the City obtained a state grant* in 2018 to conduct a complete inventory of all street trees and front-yard trees in the Target Area. The City's contractor sent out crews to electronically "tag" over 3,000 public shade trees and collect information on each. This data was used to provide overall observations and recommendations for the area, and to estimate the costs and benefits of maintaining those trees.

Click here to view the street tree inventorY in an interactive map! 

look at data on each tree in your neighborhood!

project information - FAQ

How was the Target Area chosen?

The Target Area was limited due to funding available under the state grant. The City's required contribution was lower because the Target Area was limited exclusively to state-designated Environmental Justice (EJ) areas, which have a higher proportion of minority, low-income, and/or non-English speakers. The inventory may be expanded in the future to cover other areas of the City.

What information was collected?

The inventory was conducted by certified arborists, who collected many points of information about each tree, including GPS coordinates, species, size (diameter), defects, growth conditions such as overhead wires, evidence of disease or pests, number of stems, etc. The arborist also assigned a risk rating to each tree.

How is the inventory data useful for protecting and enhancing the urban forest?

The complete inventory provides a baseline for City arborists to prioritize maintenance and future plantings, and to better assess needs at the neighborhood scale. For example, a mix of the right species is important to avoid the spread of disease and pests, and a mix of young, established, and mature trees is important to ensure the tree canopy is maintained into the future.

The inventory also allows the City to estimate the costs and benefits of its tree resources, helping to document the positive economic value that trees contribute to our community.

*This project was funded in part by the USDA Forest Service through the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Urban and Community Forestry Program.