Sonoma County — Important News on Tree Ordinance

Dear Supervisors

The following is a short summary of issues – supporting  a Tree Ordinance in Sonoma County

Forests, trees (in continental US and worldwide) are shown to be 15{5fc40a96f14c4a6aa4c2a32569b0a57dcc67c0b31eb04c341474283f11b6cdd2} to 20{5fc40a96f14c4a6aa4c2a32569b0a57dcc67c0b31eb04c341474283f11b6cdd2} of the solution potential for global warming.

In the US, our forests are 25{5fc40a96f14c4a6aa4c2a32569b0a57dcc67c0b31eb04c341474283f11b6cdd2} of their original capacity (that means 75{5fc40a96f14c4a6aa4c2a32569b0a57dcc67c0b31eb04c341474283f11b6cdd2} gone).  

In Sonoma County it is worse – our remaining forests and tree inventory is from 10{5fc40a96f14c4a6aa4c2a32569b0a57dcc67c0b31eb04c341474283f11b6cdd2} to 12{5fc40a96f14c4a6aa4c2a32569b0a57dcc67c0b31eb04c341474283f11b6cdd2} of its original biomass.

Those numbers should be of concern.  If we want to do our part in addressing some climate change issues – we need to increase our tree biomass.

This is one issue that was totally ignored in the Sonoma County Climate Action Plan of 2020

Of course – there are other benefits of trees – including, but not limited to: wildlife, water quality and availability, fish, and beauty.

Please address this issue.

Alan Levine
Coast Action Group
Affiliate of Redwood Coast Watersheds Alliance
126 Steiner Ct.
Santa Rosa, CA 95404