Street Trees and Plants

Mission and Vision:  The Bureau of Urban Forestry enhances the City's green infrastructure by preserving and growing the trees and plants that make up our urban forest. The Bureau also repairs tree-related sidewalk damage and provides emergency tree response. 

Trees are more than just beautiful additions to urban life. They are an essential component of the City's ecosystem and provide enormous environmental and social benefits. They help manage stormwater, reduce air pollution, sequester carbon, save energy, increase property values, provide wildlife habitat, calm traffic, provide a more pleasant pedestrian experience and benefit human health. Here are the programs that improve the health and sustainability of the City’s urban forest:

Public Works Biodiversity Initiative
Public Works is firmly committed to supporting San Francisco’s Biodiversity Vision on a City-wide scale with the goal of encouraging conservation and connection to nature; promoting native habitats and making effective use of our natural resources. Read about our commitment to this initiative here.

StreetTreeSF
StreetTreeSF is the citywide street tree maintenance program managed by San Francisco Public Works. The initiative is funded by a measure that passed in 2016 with overwhelming voter support and transferred responsibility for the care and maintenance of the City’s 125,000-plus street trees and surrounding sidewalks from property owners to Public Works. StreetTreeSF provides routine, proactive tree maintenance throughout the city on regular cycles. Our crews maintain street trees on a block-by-block basis, ensuring that all street trees are inspected and pruned on a regular basis.

Look up information on your street tree (e.g., its species, pruning schedule, etc.) by clicking here.

Permits
We issue permits for pruning, removal and planting of street trees and private protected trees. Before issuing a permit, a Public Works inspector will evaluate each request to determine if the scope of work being requested conforms to current arboricultural standards and best management practices and that the person or company doing the work is qualified.

Street Tree Listings
We keep the most up-to-date information available for you, from recommended street trees and plants to Significant and Landmark trees. 

Street Tree Map
The City gathers and maintains a database of approximately 125,000 public trees on streets, parks and medians. Whenever a public tree is planted, pruned, maintained or removed and replaced, the tree is surveyed and the information is updated in the City’s database. Doing this on a regular basis helps us determine the needs and condition of the urban forest and plan accordingly.

Growing the Street Tree Population
With more than 125,000 street trees in San Francisco as of 2023, Public Works has a goal of adding an additional 30,000 trees to reach the 155,000 mark by 2040. These new trees will help stem the decline of the urban forest and bring the many benefits of trees to more of the city’s neighborhoods. In addition, they will help create a more equitable distribution of tree canopy and reduce greening inequities in different areas of the city. You can donate to help us care for our Urban Forest through the Adopt-A-Tree Fund.