The City of Alameda is pleased to release a Request for Proposal (RFP) for consultants to prepare a comprehensive citywide Urban Forest Plan. The City seeks to retain a consultant or consultant team to perform professional consulting and planning services to prepare a comprehensive citywide Urban Forest Plan. The proposal seeks to both update the Citys existing street tree plan and expand the scope to include park trees, trees in easement areas, trees near power lines that are maintained by Alameda Municipal Power, and trees on private and other non-City of Alameda property. Thus, Alamedas street tree plan will become the Urban Forest Plan. An update and expansion of the 2010 Master Street Tree Plan as an Urban Forest Plan and expanding the urban forest was identified as an action item in the Citys 2019 Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (CARP) for the purpose of achieving goals related to carbon sequestration, urban heat island mitigation, cleaning and slowing stormwater runoff, reducing building energy use, advancing social equity, and contributing to a high quality of life for all Alamedans. The Urban Forest Master Tree Plan is also expected to contribute to the goals of Alamedas Green Infrastructure Plan, which guides the identification, implementation, tracking, and reporting of green infrastructure projects within the City of Alameda. The Citys Urban Forest Plan is intended to be strategic in advancing social equity and contributing to an improved quality of life by providing the benefits of urban tree canopy to all community members, which includes improvement of overall emotional and psychological health, and improvement of physical health. USDA Forest Service maps of urban tree canopy coverage show that most of the City has between 0-14% tree canopy coverage, while the wealthiest neighborhoods have 15-24% tree canopy coverage. A focus of the Urban Forest Plan should be expanding the urban forest and creating a more equal distribution of trees across all of Alamedas neighborhoods. The CARP included a social vulnerability assessment that is intended to guide equitable implementation of CARP strategies, including expanding the urban forest Existing City resources that will support the update of the Urban Forest Master Tree Plan include an inventory of 25,000+ trees on City property, including street trees and 2,500+park trees with an appraised value of $63M. This inventory is held in Arbor Access and maintained by the Citys tree maintenance contractor, West Coast Arborists (WCA). Additional resources are available on the Citys webpages for Street Trees and Urban Forest. These include descriptions of Alamedas tree trimming schedule and best practices used to promote safety, tree health, and local wildlife. Management of the urban forest and assessment and mitigation strategies for street tree impacts on sidewalks are discussed in the Citys fiscal year 2021-23 Capital Budget. Written questions deadline Monday, May 3 by 5:00 pm Answers to written questions posted By May 10, 2022 Interviews (if needed) Week of June 6, 2022 Award of contract (tentative) July/August 2022 (requires City Council action) Contract completion One year from date contract is signed * The City reserves the right to alter the above schedule, as necessary. All questions must be submitted in writing and will be accepted until Monday, May 3, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. Please send them to: Danielle Mieler, Sustainability and Resilience Manager, dmieler@alamedaca.gov. Responses will be posted here by May 10, 2022. The method of contractor selection has not been determined at this time
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