You are here--->What do you want>Establish goals
Establish goals for the management plan
In the preceding step, you identified needs that should be addressed to achieve your vision for the urban forest. In this step, you will prioritize those needs and determine which will be addressed in the plan. In doing this, you will set the goals that you hope to achieve through the plan.
The goals in your plan are the general outcomes that you seek to achieve. Goals may address some or all of the needs you have identified. They can also address other concerns or desires of the stakeholders. All stakeholders should have an opportunity to help set plan goals. For municipal plans, goal setting may involve input from staff, consultants, elected officials, and community residents. General consensus on the management plan’s goals can help ensure that necessary resources will be made available to implement the plan. If funding is limited, goals should be prioritized so that resources can be directed toward the most important goals first.
On the previous page, we organized needs under these categories:
- the tree resource,
- management,
- community interactions.
We also noted that these categories overlap to some degree. Because goals describe general outcomes, it can be difficult to place them neatly in a single category. You may choose to organize your goals by these or other categories, or by their planning horizon: short, midrange, and long term goals.
Goals should be tangible and quantifiable. If you are explicit in stating your goals (e.g., attain 35 % canopy cover by the year 2020), it will be easier to evaluate your progress toward your goals. If you state goals more generally (e.g., improve level of tree care on commercial properties), you may want to set specific benchmarks to indicate how success will be measured (e.g., eliminate topping of trees, replace removed trees within 3 months).
This page allows you to list your goals. Choosing objectives, actions, and tools for each goal are addressed in subsequent web pages.
Example
Most of the goals in the City of Davis Community Forest Management Plan are rather general. Specific policies listed under each of these goals provide more detail and benchmarks for assessing progress.
A. Summary: Management Goals
of the Community Forest Management Plan
Goal
1. Improve the quality of the Community Forest (consisting of all public and
private trees) over time in ways that will optimize environmental, economic, habitat,
food and social benefits to the City and its neighborhoods.
Goal 2. Promote planting, preservation and protection of the existing Community
Forest resource.
Goal 3. Continue to maintain the City’s trees in a safe and healthy condition as cost effectively
as possible.
Goal 4. Facilitate collaboration among City departments related to issues and
projects involving trees.
Goal 5. Provide awareness of the importance of the Community Forest; educate the
community on proper tree planting and care; and encourage greater participation
in tree planting and stewardship activities.
Goal 6. Adopt the Community Forest Management Plan to guide long-term tree
planting and maintenance activities, and update it every five years.
City of Davis, Community Forest Management Plan, 2004
The urban forest managment plan for the City of Walla Walla, WA, establishes the four overall goals noted below. Statements listed under each goal (equal to objectives, as used here) provide specific detail and benchmarks.
1. Maintain, Preserve, Conserve, and Improve Existing Urban Canopy in Walla Walla
2. Remain a “Tree City USA”
3. Preserve and Protect Native, Significant, and Historical Treescapes
4. Coordinate all Construction Activities Related to Trees With Urban Forestry Program
The example below lists a number of overall managment goals, although most of them lack specificity. The plan includes a summary table of recommendations that provides specific benchmarks. However, most of these are not clearly linked to specific goals. By restating goals or reorganizing the recommendations, the linkages between the plan's goals and specific objectives would be more clear.
Management Recommendations
The inventory and analysis [of] Fort Greene Park’s arboreal resource are the preliminary steps to
generating specific forest management recommendations. These recommendations are
based on the following overall management goals:
· Maintaining canopy cover
· Maximizing public health benefits
· Providing a proper setting for passive recreation
· Maintaining year-round beauty
· Providing wildlife habitat
· Preventing soil erosion
· Reducing storm water run-off
· Framing views
· Reflecting historical landscape designs and uses
· Enhancing current and future park uses
· Offering educational opportunities.
The framework for these management recommendations is the division of the park into
seven management zones, one of which would be the focus of each year’s planting and
maintenance activities. Detailed descriptions of each zone are in Appendix D. The
following is a summary of the major short and long-term management recommendations
contained in this plan. ...
Fort Green Park Urban Forest Management Plan, City of New York, 2004
Work plan
Setting goals for the plan may require several iterations and involve different groups. Especially in later sessions, you may discuss goals along with their related objectives and implementation actions/tools.
Use this worksheet to plan and track the goal setting process |
||||
|
Participants |
Format: |
Person(s) responsible for collating/recording |
Target completion date |
| Generate initial goals | ||||
| Vetting / additional input | ||||
| Final goals | ||||
Outline
Below are some overall goals that are included in many urban forest management plans. You can add to or modify the wording of goals to specify target levels and/or time frames. During plan development, you may start by listing initial goals that lack specific benchmarks. As you develop objectives and actions, it may be easier to set specific benchmarks that can be incorporated into the final goals or objectives.
| Include in plan | Goals-<Sergey-These should be editable and also the user should be able to add more> |
| Establish and maintain optimal levels of tree cover to maximize ecosystem benefits provided by the urban forest, (maintain air quality, reduce energy use, moderate stormwater runoff, and provide a favorable environment for city residents). | |
| Maintain trees in a healthy condition through good cultural practices. | |
| Establish and maintain an optimal level of age and species diversity. | |
| Promote conservation of existing tree resources. | |
| Select, situate, and maintain urban trees appropriately to maximize benefits and minimize hazard, nuisance, hardscape damage, and maintenance costs | |
| Promote efficient and cost-effective management of the urban forest | |
| Centralize tree management under the urban forester and coordinate tree-related activities through this position. | |
| Foster community support for the local urban forestry program | |
| Encourage good tree management on privately-owned properties. | |
| [Add others] | |
Save to Outline-goes to Strategic Plan>Goals