{"id":106871,"date":"2026-01-05T22:55:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T22:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/106871\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T22:55:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T22:55:07","slug":"fort-lauderdale-tree-plan-would-cost-up-to-103-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/106871\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Lauderdale tree plan would cost up to $103 million"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want to help Fort Lauderdale? Plant a tree.<\/p>\n

Fort Lauderdale needs to plant up to 276,000 more trees by 2040 if it wants a 33% tree canopy, meaning one-third of the city would be shaded by tree cover.<\/p>\n

That ambitious goal<\/a> is part of a new urban forestry master plan expected to come before the Fort Lauderdale commission Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

To reach that number, trees would need to be planted on both public and private property over the next 15 years. Getting the job done would cost between $27.6 million and $103.4 million, says RES Florida Consulting, the firm hired by Fort Lauderdale to prepare the proposed urban forestry plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very ambitious,\u201d Commissioner Steve Glassman said of the plan. \u201cBut I\u2019d rather be positive and ambitious than not. If we hit the goal, great. I don\u2019t think we can, but why not try? What\u2019s important is that we actually take some action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many trees have been lost as a result of Fort Lauderdale\u2019s recent development boom<\/a>,\u00a0the consultant noted.<\/p>\n

Sea-level rise and intense storms also pose challenges to expanding the city\u2019s tree canopy.<\/p>\n

Fort Lauderdale is doing what it can to save the trees that have already been planted, said Commissioner Ben Sorensen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve dramatically increased our fines for the unpermitted removal of trees,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re also engaging in a tree survey to evaluate all the native trees in the city and how to best protect them. The master plan is an aggressive plan to increase the canopy. But I think we can get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, known for its extensive tree canopy, boasts more trees than any other spot in Fort Lauderdale, according to a color-coded map provided by the consultant.<\/p>\n

Cities are not typically required to have an urban forestry master plan, but many are voluntarily setting tree canopy goals.<\/p>\n

Trees not only create shade, they can also increase property values, improve air quality and reduce energy costs, experts say.<\/p>\n

Fort Lauderdale\u2019s tree canopy is currently at 26.6%.<\/p>\n

The city currently has 5.6 square miles of potential tree planting area within its borders.<\/p>\n

Fort Lauderdale currently has 8.75 square miles of tree canopy. The goal is to grow another 2.1 square miles by 2040.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrees matter for a bunch of reasons,\u201d Sorensen said. \u201cThey\u2019re very important for oxygen, shade and stormwater drainage. And also, it\u2019s just much more aesthetically pleasing to have the trees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want to help Fort Lauderdale? Plant a tree. Fort Lauderdale needs to plant up to 276,000 more trees…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[506,28,249,251,250,114,266,109],"class_list":{"0":"post-106871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-lauderdale","8":"tag-broward-county","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-fort-lauderdale","11":"tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","12":"tag-fort-lauderdale-news","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-social"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}