Georgia Model Urban Forest

The Georgia Model Urban Forest (GMUF) project was developed through a collaborative effort between the USDA Forest Service - Southern Region, Georgia Forestry Commission, Georgia Urban Forest Council and other statewide partners. The USDA Forest Service - Southern Region provided funding and support for the project.

The purpose of the Georgia Model Urban Forest project was to create a tool to help communities better understand, preserve, plant, and maintain trees and forests as an important community resource. Our goal is to inspire citizens, local officials, foresters, landscape architects, engineers and planners to change current development attitudes and place trees at the same level of importance as other critical infrastructure elements in communities, like roads and utility lines.

To help us create this tool, we contracted with renowned Landscape Architect James Urban, FASLA of James Urban Landscape Architecture who also worked with representatives from the Atlanta office of EDAW, Inc., a nationally known Landscape Architecture firm. Organizational and agency leaders from across the state provided insight and additional input.

Savannah, Georgia was chosen as a study site because it is famous for its historic city squares and graceful tree-lined streets. Yet, while Savannah has one of the leading urban forestry programs in the country and a significant budget for trees, the City of Savannah and Chatham County still face the same development pressures and challenges as many communities in Georgia.

The GMUF provides Georgia's citizens with the information, tools and references necessary to organize community support for the urban forest and plan development with the green infrastructure of the urban forest in mind. The Book is divided into four chapters: Why an Urban Forest, Space for the Urban Forest, Building an Urban Forest and Measuring Success.

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Georgia Model Urban Forest

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