\u201cI don\u2019t think the city\u2019s strategy is feasible, particularly for high poverty neighborhoods,\u201d Jose Murillo, director of place-based neighborhoods for nonprofit Amigos de Guadalupe Center for Justice and Empowerment, told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cI just don\u2019t think that we will get significant tree canopy coverage\u00a0in our neighborhoods such as Mayfair<\/a>, unless we do something radically different. The city should be responsible for maintaining, pruning and planting trees in high poverty neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n Property owners are responsible for maintaining trees on their property and on the sidewalk<\/a> next to their home. More than 90% of San Jose\u2019s 1.6 million trees fall on the responsibility of homeowners to maintain, an unrealistic burden for some households, Murillo said.<\/p>\n City staff disagree with the civil grand jury report\u2019s findings. Since a 2022 audit, the city has been planting 2,073 trees a year on average \u2014 up from roughly 400 trees a year. Over the last four years, the city has planted more than 7,000 trees, representing a net gain, a Department of Transportation spokesperson said.<\/p>\n \u201cTo help preserve existing trees, we have reduced our pruning cycle on city-maintained trees from roughly 30 years to 11,\u201d spokesperson Colin Heyne told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cWe have also updated our approach to tree preservation with respect to roadwork and development projects, seeking to keep existing trees in place if feasible and safe.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the report indicated that the city would realistically need to plant between 4,500 to 22,000 trees every year to reach its goal of 20% coverage if the trees are smaller than 50 feet.<\/p>\n Heyne said the city does not have the sizes of the trees it\u2019s planting readily available.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout deliberate strategic planning, the city seems to be headed for inevitable failure \u2014 just as in 2007 when it reached only 15-20% of its goal to plant 100,000 trees,\u201d the report reads.<\/p>\n Trees not only provide needed shade during scorching summers, they help clean the air, mitigate flooding by absorbing rainwater and support wildlife. Places like East San Jose have as little as 9% tree coverage<\/a>, and as a result could be several degrees hotter than well shaded areas in the city.<\/p>\n The lack of tree coverage in high poverty areas affects mental well-being, as well as someone\u2019s ability to enjoy the neighborhood, Shawn Gerth, executive director of community farm Veggielution, said. Her organization is working on a plan to increase tree coverage in Mayfair by growing oak trees on the farm and then planting them in key areas in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n \u201cEast San Jose is\u00a07 degrees hotter than other neighborhoods with adequate tree cover,\u201d Gerth told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cYou see people walking around Mayfair in summer with umbrellas, and folks know why they\u2019re not going outside. You can\u2019t navigate from one part of the neighborhood to another part as comfortably as you can in other neighborhoods that have adequate tree cover.\u201d<\/p>\n San Jose\u2019s tree canopy is declining in large part because the city hasn\u2019t invested enough in preserving its mature trees, Tara Sreekrishnan, executive director of nonprofit Our City Forest, said. Trees require regular pruning to ensure they are healthy and compatible with street infrastructure such as power lines. The city hasn\u2019t tracked how much it invests in pruning trees it maintains.<\/p>\n \u201cIf folks don\u2019t have that, you\u2019ll see improper pruning, and that can weaken the tree or create hazards,\u201d Sreekrishnan told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cSo preventative and structural pruning is really important for protecting mature canopy.\u201d<\/p>\n Our City Forest, an urban forestry organization established in 1994, grows and plants trees across Silicon Valley. Its community nursing and training center incubates thousands of trees and arborists teach residents how to care for them.<\/p>\n![\"Tree](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/A09V1467-1024x683.jpg\")
San Jose has one of the thinnest tree canopies in the Bay Area, with about 13.2% of coverage across the city as of 2020. Officials are working to reverse the declining canopy, but advocates say more is needed. Photo courtesy of Our City Forest.<\/p>\n
![\"In-line](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/interactive-321838904008.png\")
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