Shaping Opinion and Changing Policy,
City of Bellevue, WA
Diana Canzoneri, Assistant Planner,
Dan DeWald, Natural Resource Manager,
Karl Johansen, GIS Manager,
Dan Stroh, Planning Director

"Community and urban forestry programs are sustainable only if political support, funding, and community involvement is nurtured as carefully as the natural systems we wish to preserve and restore."

Roger Hoesterey, Deputy Director of Parks and Community Services, City of Bellevue

When AMERICAN FORESTS released its 1999 findings on tree loss in the Puget Sound region, City of Bellevue officials were immediately concerned. The analysis revealed a dramatic and surprising loss of trees, more than Bellevue officials had expected. To better understand what was happening, Bellevue's planning and natural resources experts asked AMERICAN FORESTS to prepare a set of tree canopy data for their city GIS systems, which could be used for future planning and policy making.

Using the data, Bellevue found that since 1972, forest land decreased by 43%, and low canopy (<20% cover) had increased by 41%. Bellevue was losing functioning forest cover to a sparse and fragmented collection of trees, incapable of providing wildlife habitat or riparian buffers needed by salmon. To find solutions at the site development scale, Bellevue used CITYgreen to conduct a detailed inventory and analysis of Bellevue's urban forest.

They began the job by working with nearly 300 volunteers to collect field data from sample locations, recording data about species, size and health of trees. Bellevue's Parks-Natural Resources department focused the study on a 2,037 acre neighborhood, taking a 2.6% sample comprised of 40 two-acre sites. CITYgreen analysis revealed that in this neighborhood alone, $10 million worth of stormwater benefits and $140,000 in annual air pollution mitigation services were being provided by trees. However, the area had lost $76 million worth of environmental benefits between 1972 and 1996 due to canopy loss.

These findings, presented by volunteers, got the city council's attention. Prominent news coverage in the Bellevue Environmental Scan, a sweeping look at change in the community, brought the issue to the forefront and made a compelling case for the importance of retaining trees. As a result of the study, the council decided to transfer Native Growth Protection Tracts from private to public ownership, so that these lands could be pro-actively managed for their ecological function. Tax payer support was secured to protect these areas.

Native Growth Protection Tracts were adopted and protected by the city.

Volunteers helped conduct the urban forest field survey.

Using the CITYgreen analysis to educate elected officials proved to be a good investment. When a group of residents petitioned for the right to remove more trees to enhance views, Bellevue's city council rejected the request because they knew how much their trees were worth.

Volunteers also became stewards of the city's urban forest.

Roger Hoesterey, Deputy Director of Bellevue Parks and Community Services sums up the division's philosophy, "community and urban forestry programs are sustainable only if political support, funding, and community involvement is nurtured as carefully as the natural systems we wish to preserve and restore."

Read the complete proceedings paper online