Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava releases Draft Urban Forestry Plan for community feedback

Today, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava released Miami-Dade County’s Draft Urban Forestry Plan, a blueprint to reach the County’s ambitious goal of 30% urban tree canopy cover. The plan was drafted at the direction of Mayor Levine Cava and the request of the Board of County Commissioners, to inform residents, businesses and stakeholders of the state of our urban forests and the challenges they face.

The County’s reforestation goals are carried out by a multi-departmental effort that includes Miami-Dade County’s Regulatory and Economic Resources (RER) Divisions of Environmental Resources Management (DERM) and Office of Resilience (OOR) together with the Department of Parks Recreation and Open Spaces. The Plan outlines steps to advance such goals for an equitable, robust and resilient urban forest system.

“Our urban tree canopy is an essential part of building a more resilient community where residents in all corners of our County can live, work and thrive,” said Mayor Levine Cava.  “Miami-Dade County is committed to working across all of its departments and with community stakeholders, municipalities, and residents to make all possible progress toward reaching our canopy goals. Together, we will build and protect a robust, resilient urban forest system.”

Trees and our urban forest system are critical for cooling neighborhoods, cleaning stormwater and air pollution, preventing flooding, and reducing our carbon footprint. Under Mayor Levine Cava’s administration, Miami-Dade County has doubled the number of trees it plants annually and built partnerships with the Miami-Dade County School Board and faith-based organizations to prioritize tree planting in areas with current low canopy. While these and other actions will help us increase the green spaces in our community, there is still much work to be done.

"This draft plan was a collective effort to articulate the challenges facing urban forests and recommend a suite of strategies and collective actions that could get us to our goals,” said Jane Gilbert, Miami-Dade County Chief Heat Officer and Director of Urban and Community Forestry.

“We look forward to gathering public and stakeholder feedback to further refine this roadmap."

The community is encouraged to provide feedback and comments on the draft plan:

 Participate in a public workshop:

• Thursday, July 25, 6-7:30 p.m. (Virtual). Register here for the zoom link: https://miamidade.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZEq_5KIgQ7KWVt4t6doI4g
• Thursday, August 1, 6 - 7:30 p.m. at the Stephen P. Clark Government Center, 18^th Floor, Room 18-4, 111 NW 1^st St, Miami, FL 33132.

    RSVP at https://tinyurl.com/forestsworkshop

Provide your comments through this online survey form: https://feedback.miamidade.gov/jfe/form/SV_6DoSCnM2RHCQP8a.