Urban Forestry
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The Urban Forestry Program at the City of Jacksonville strives to provide the community with a healthy urban forest. Urban Forestry is the practice of managing single trees, tree populations, and all associated vegetation making up the crucial portion of a city’s green infrastructure. Just as engineers and city planners manage the roads and bridges in your community, your Urban Foresters and City Arborists manage the trees in the City of Jacksonville. The Urban Forestry Team achieves these goals by maintaining the tree canopy in a city, planting new trees, conducting research, and working with the local community in order to maximize the benefits that the City receives from our urban forest. These benefits include reducing urban heat island effect, reducing stormwater runoff, filtering the air we breathe, providing wildlife habitat, and much more.
TREE OF THE MONTH
August's tree of the month is the swamp chestnut oak, Quercus michauxii. This large majestic white oak species is a native oak that can be found in Jacksonville and throughout the southeastern United States growing in bottomland, mixed hardwood habitat. Although this oak tree naturally grows in more mesic soil conditions, the swamp chestnut oak can be an excellent choice for an urban street tree due to its ability to do well in poorly drained soils and drier conditions. It also has a tendency to grow upright to provide a mature shade species.
The swamp chestnut oak gets its name from the shape of its leaves. The leaves look similar to the leaves of a chestnut tree and are large dark green in the summer with a grey, patchy bark texture. The swamp chestnut oak can get very large in size, providing excellent shade and wildlife habitat.
Keep and eye out for this tree in our urban forest and see its magnificence in person.
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Request your 630-CITY trees today!
If you have space on the City right of way and would like the City of Jacksonville to plant new trees please call 630-CITY or request through the online portal and our urban foresters will reach out to you.
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Justin Gearhart
City Arborist
Justin graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Forest Resources and Conservation and a Master of Science in Interdisciplinary Ecology. He spent several years on research projects studying traits of tree species in the Eastern U.S. After graduating he worked for Pinellas County Building and Development Review Services, helping administer the landscape code and ordinances. Justin is an International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Certified Arborist. With the tree plantings of this department he hopes to balance the short term benefits and long term benefits of trees so that all an enjoy.
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