The City of Tampa (City), University of South Florida (USF), University of Florida (UF) and the UF-IFAS/ Hillsborough Extension Service completed an ecological analysis of the City's urban forest in 2006-2007. Nearly five years old, the 2006 project examined the temporal change in canopy coverage from 1975-2006 and concluded that average citywide tree cover of 29% had returned to 1970s levels, that tree cover change was not positive in all areas of the City, but that the potential existed to substantially increase tree cover on most land uses within the City. The project also established two-hundred permanent sampling plots to conduct a robust scientific analysis of the vegetative structure, functions, and values provided by Tampa's urban forest. The estimated 7.8 million trees in Tampa provided ecosystem services with an annual economic value in the tens of millions of dollars and a replacement value of $1.4 billion, but that the health of trees on privately maintained land uses was much lower than those on publicly maintained lands. Using the results of the 2006-2007 study and grant monies from the State of Florida, the project team developed a report describing existing and possible urban tree canopy and helped the City initiate the process to develop a long-term urban forest management plan. A major outcome of this effort was a vision (with goals) for urban forest sustainability developed by the Mayor's Steering Committee on Urban Forest Sustainability. More recently, the project team assisted the Department of Parks and Recreation to develop a survey of community preferences regarding urban forests. This project will re-examine the City's urban forest as required by the Tampa tree ordinance (Ord. No. 2006-74, § 9, 3-23-06) and develop Tampa's first long-term urban forest management plan.
