The City of Yakima was recognized as a Tree City USA community in 2017. The City's urban forest has been inventoried as part of the city's GIS system. Currently, there are 6,793 trees maintained on city owned property.
The Yakima Tree Board has requested that City Council consider an amendment of the existing ordinance to change certain residency requirements of members of the Yakima Tree Board to allow non-resident tree specialists to serve on the board. Currently, only the city arborist and the member recommended by the Yakima Arboretum do not have to be residents of Yakima. Due to this, it has been difficult to fill all five seats, creating problems with having a quorum to hold meetings and conduct business. It is believed that the board can be just as effective with additional non-resident members as long as they're tree specialists. |