The current City of Newark’s Street Tree Management Program (TMP) was adopted in 1988. The purpose of the TMP is to develop and maintain a safe and healthy urban forest and to minimize the City’s liability associated with trees. The City is responsible for trees in the parks, within the public right-of-way and at public facilities.

The City uses the current International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) guidelines as a standard for pruning and planting methods.

Most City Street Trees are scheduled for routine pruning every 8 years. Certain species require more frequent pruning. The attached map (PDF) shows the pruning areas and the attached schedule (PDF) indicates the pruning year for each area.

Each year the City contracts to have approximately 2000 trees pruned. In-house staff will structure prune all trees that are less then 6 inches in diameter at breast height (DBH).

The TMP also removes dead, dying or undesirable trees. An undesirable tree is a tree that has been determined to be inappropriate as a street tree because it causes excessive sidewalk damage or grows too tall for its location, usually under power lines. There is an approved list of undesirable trees. The City removes undesirable trees as the budget allows and as requested by residents. All trees that are removed are replaced by an appropriate species from the list of approved trees. If the tree cannot be replaced in the same location, a tree will be planted elsewhere in the City. Please refer to the Tree Removal Process & Application (PDF) for more information.

If a resident or a business has an empty tree pocket in front of their property and would like a tree planted, they can request one and the City will plant one as soon as the budget allows.

To report a dead, dying or potentially hazardous tree or concrete damage, please call 578-4806 (if you get voicemail, please leave a detailed message as messages are retrieved several times a day during working hours) or email at maintenance@newark.org. Please be prepared to provide the following information:

• Location of tree by address or street and cross street.
• Your Name, Address and Phone number in case we have follow up questions.
• Nature of problem (ie. Is there a broken branch hanging? Has damage been inflicted upon tree? Is the tree leaning?, etc.).
• An estimate of the size of the tree by either the diameter of the trunk or an estimated height.
• Is the tree canopy surrounding power lines?
• Is the concrete lifting around the tree?
• Any other information you feel is pertinent to the situation.

If the tree has fallen or a branch has fallen, please follow the instructions in the "How to Report a Tree Down" section.

A Work Action Form (WAF) will be created per your request and the City Arborist will evaluate the site. WAFs will be prioritized by risk level, chronology of the requests and will be completed as the budget allows each year.