• Why does the City of Woodland have a street tree list? 
• How does the City encourage residential tree planting?
• Does the tree list limit the trees you can plant? 
• How does one qualify for the City tree rebate?
• What trees qualify for the rebate?

Woodland’s Street Tree List

The City of Woodland, in keeping with its motto as the “City of Trees,” has an established policy to encourage tree planting in residential areas. The Residential Street Tree Rebate Program was established to encourage residential tree planting by Woodland homeowners to maintain an attractive tree canopy visible from public streets. The program consists of a list of trees deemed appropriate to Woodland, together with a rebate program to compensate homeowners for the cost of the trees. 

The official master street tree list contains 37 tree species selected by an arborist as generally appropriate for Woodland. Selection criteria included characteristics such as mature tree size, appearance, suitability for Woodland’s prevailing soils and climate, and the potential to adversely affect underground utilities and infrastructure.

The list offers a variety of trees of different sizes and growth habits, and includes evergreens (both cone-bearing and non cone-bearing), deciduous, ornamentals (with showy flowers), and our great and stately oaks, including the immense native valley oak.  It also includes descriptive information about the appearance of the tree, growth rate, and the overall size of a mature tree.

Rebate Program

Here is how the rebate program works. A property owner can purchase the tree(s) from any nursery or home improvement center and, after submitting a receipt and a short application, receive a one-time reimbursement check per address for up to $75 for the cost of the tree(s) only (including tax).  The City will not reimburse for delivery,

labor, planting supplies, etc.   

Upon receipt of the reimbursement application by the Public Works Department, City staff will verify that the tree was a listed species, was planted properly, that the tree was of the proper planting size (minimum 5-gallons), and that required setback requirements were followed. If all is well with these requirements the city will issue the reimbursement to the property owner.  Renters may also apply for the rebate, but the city will first verify that the property owner consents to the tree planting.  

The tree rebate program has been in effect since the late 1990s and since December 2000, the City has issued at least 137 rebates.

Tree Selection

While there are many trees on the tree list that generally do well in Woodland, it is still important to consider the characteristics of the available site when choosing the desired tree. This is especially important with respect to space requirements of the tree at maturity because of the city’s minimum setback requirements.

The required setbacks are 20-40 feet between trees, 5 feet from underground utilities, 30 feet from street intersection (to maintain traffic and signage visibility), 15 feet from alleys, 5 feet from driveways, and,  7.5 feet behind the sidewalk, toward the house. The trees must be planted in the front yard, or the side yard for corner lots.

Here is the current street tree list broken down by tree category:

Deciduous trees – Aristocrat Pear, European Hackberry, European Hornbeam, Fan-Tex Ash, Flowering Plum, Golden Rain Tree, Kentucky Coffee Tree, London Plane Tree, Maidenhair Tree, Sour Gum Tree, Sawleaf Zelcova. 

Ornamentals – Pink Dawn Chitalpa, Crape Myrtle, Eastern Redbud, English Hawthorn, Flowering Crabapple.

Coniferous Evergreens – Atlantic Cedar, Arizona Cypress, Beefwood, Calabrian Pine, California Juniper, Canary Island Pine, Coast Redwood, Deodor Cedar, Incense Cedar, Japanese Cryptomeria, Western Red (Hogan’s) Cedar.

Broadleaf Evergreens – African Sumac,  California laurel; and Oaks – Blue oak, Burr Oak, Cork Oak, English Oak, Holly Oak, Scarlett Oak, Southern Live Oak, and, last but not least the Valley Oak .

Although once your trees are planted in your front yard you are responsible for their care and maintenance, it’s important to distinguish the area between the sidewalk and the street, also known as the planting strip. This is the city easement, and the city is responsible for it. 

If there is a problem tree in the strip, or you would like to have a tree planted there, contact the city and city staff will select an appropriate new or replacement tree. This planting strip is the City's easement and, except for watering the tree, the city is responsible for maintaining all trees in the planting strip. You may be able to request the particular tree species on the list, but the city will need to agree with your selection. The city will maintain the trees in the strip, but you will need to water newly planted trees. 

More Information

For more information about Woodland’s street tree list, rebate program, planting guidelines, and rebate application, check the City Website at http://www.cityofwoodland.org/pubworks/treebate.htm , or contact the Public Works Department at 661-5962.