Introduction

The City of Newark is excited to launch the development of its 20‑Year Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP) — a long‑range roadmap designed to care for, enhance, and strategically grow Newark’s urban forest. Trees are one of the community’s most valuable public assets, providing shade, beauty, cleaner air, cooler neighborhoods, and vibrant public spaces. This plan will guide the City's management and expansion of these benefits over the next two decades, ensuring that Newark’s urban forest thrives for current and future generations.

Throughout this planning process, Newark will work closely with residents, businesses, community organizations, and technical experts to understand local needs, identify priorities, and shape a shared vision for the future of our City’s trees. Your voice is essential, and we look forward to partnering with the community to create a healthier, greener, and more resilient Newark.

What is an Urban Forest?

An urban forest comprises all of the trees throughout the City that grow on streets, parks, homes, commercial properties, and other locations. Urban trees that grow within communities help Newark residents adapt to more extreme weather, such as heat, storms, and flooding, by providing shade, cleaning the air we breathe, reducing stormwater impacts, and supporting local wildlife.

Why does Newark Need a UFMP?

Newark’s trees face increasing pressures from new development, conflicts with surrounding infrastructure, limited funding and staffing resources, to the impacts of climate change, including hotter summers, drought stress, and emerging pests. At the same time, the community’s need for the benefits that trees provide is growing. A long-term UFMP helps the City proactively address these challenges by establishing clear goals, best practices, and data‑driven strategies for tree planting, care, risk reduction, and long‑term stewardship. By planning ahead, Newark can protect its existing canopy, expand shade in underserved neighborhoods, improve public safety, and ensure that the urban forest continues to support community health, environmental resilience, and a high quality of life for all residents.

Share Your Perspective - Take our Survey!

The foremost goal of this plan is to serve the community. If you live, work, or go to school in the City of Newark, we would love to hear from you. Our short, easy urban forest online survey is available until the end of May, 2026, and can be accessed here: https://arcg.is/0vPGi02

Outreach Events: We will attend several in-person engagement sessions at existing local events, giving the public opportunities to share their priorities and insights as Newark community members. We will be tabling with interactive posters at the following events:

• Outreach Event Number 1: Family Day in the Park at Newark Community Center Park, Sunday, March 28, 10 am to 12:30 pm
• Outreach Event Number 2: State of the City at Civic Center, Saturday, April 18, 11 am to 2 pm
• Outreach Event Number 3: Farmer’s Market at Newpark Mall, Sunday, May 17, 9 am to 12 pm

Focus Group Meetings: We will identify and reach out to community members representing different sectors of Newark to form a UFMP Focus Group. The Focus Group will help us understand community priorities and key issues, and guide the Vision, Goals, and Strategic Plan for the UFMP. There will be two Focus Group meetings in August and September 2026, and members are expected to review the administrative draft of the UFMP in January 2027.  If you are interested in participating in the focus group, please contact kcullinen@dudek.com.

Contact: 

Have any other questions or input? Please email us at: environmental.services@newarkca.gov

Instagram: @cityofnewarkca

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cityofnewarkca 

Project Schedule

The development of the UFMP will take place over the next 15 months, with a public draft expected to be released for community input by March 2027. The community survey will be open from March  through the end of May 2026, and other community engagement events will take place during that same timeline. The Final draft of the UFMP is expected to be completed by May 2027.