With the help of a Tree Resource Improvement and Maintenance (TRIM) grant from the Missouri Department of Conservation, KC Parks Forestry staff conducted an inventory of trees in Kansas City, Missouri focusing on areas that have been developed since the last professional tree inventory was completed in 2001.
Over the past 14 years trees have been lost through construction, redevelopment, attrition, disease, or storm damage. Additionally, new trees have been planted through new residential developments, urban renewal projects, and on-going developments. Of particular concern to the City’s Forestry staff are the locations of ash trees that are under attack by the invasive pest, the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB).
This recently completed survey added 8,248 trees to the City’s tree inventory bringing Kansas City’s total number of trees in publicly-owned developed areas to 135,500. Of these, 1,408 are ash trees that have now been added to the City’s EAB protection program.
TRIM is a competitive cost-share tree care program administered by the Missouri Department of Conservation in cooperation with the Missouri Community Forest Council.