In accordance with the Tyler 21 Plan, the City is announcing the launch of the Mayor’s Tree Tyler Initiative.

"Tyler is blessed with a beautiful urban forest,” said Mayor Barbara Bass. “We are a natural beauty in large part because of our urban forest. Major efforts have been made in the City of Tyler to both protect this urban forest and to add to it.”

More than 20 years ago the TREES Committee was established with a goal to reforest City parks and public spaces, to protect and preserve Tyler’s trees and to educate the public about their importance. Countless hours have been spent on tree plantings as well as working on City Ordinances to provide protection for trees. This tree initiative has evolved over the years and most recently played a major role in the City’s Tyler 21 master planning effort. Through this public process it became evident that our citizens recognize the importance and value of trees to this community. Trees provide a range of benefits including, but not limited to, an increase in property valuation, environmental affects and aesthetic impacts.

To respond to the community’s desire to save and plant trees, the City of Tyler is launching a new program to bring the spotlight on all these efforts by creating one clear goal: Tree Tyler. The Mayor’s 2015 Tree Tyler Initiative will be Mayor driven, and will establish a goal and implementation strategy to plant 5,000 trees in the next five years.

“The initiative will include tree plantings on public property, like parks and right-of-ways,” added Mayor Bass. “However, there will also be a concerted effort to encourage citizens to plant trees on their own property as well.”