Community Forestry Advisory Council EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The long term cost-benefits of urban forests justify their management as an essential element of urban infrastructure. However, because trees are not classified as capital assets in formal governmental accounting procedures, most jurisdictions do not provide adequate long-term financing for trees as they would other infrastructure such as roads, buildings, and other capital items. This paper suggests a long term financing program that mimics a capital improvement program, and thus provides an alternative tool for long term urban forest management. The tree capital hybrid program is composed of similar elements of a capital improvement program; including cost benefit analysis of trees using models such as I-Tree/STRATUM, long-term General Plans*, tree replacement and protection policies and ordinances, revolving funds, and most important, a vision of the urban forest of the future. The trees in a Capital Asset Hybrid program postulate trees functioning as capital assets without being officially labeled as such. Elected officials would have the same capability of revising long term urban forest plans as they do other capital plans and programs. Th