Chicago residents - contact your alderperson now about a recently introduced ordinance that directs the city's Bureau of Forestry to expedite tree removals. The ordinance was not reviewed by the Urban Forestry Advisory Board (UFAB), which was formed by the Chicago City Council to review policies that impact the city's urban tree canopy, and it allows for a tree to be considered "dangerous" without professional assessment, such as provided by professional arborists, and gives amateurs, such as alderpersons, the ability to influence hazard prioritization, potentially placing both trees and people at risk. An ordinance that potentially impacts every tree in Chicago and could harm the city's urban tree canopy for decades to come should not be rushed through to passage before it has been thoroughly reviewed by UFAB.

Contact your alderperson here.

Image courtesy of Openlands