Sacramento Ufp public outreach summary

Sacramento Urban Forest Plan

Sacramento’s urban forest consists of an estimated one million trees and extends across public property, private land, residential yards, parks, natural areas, streetscapes, schools, and commercial businesses throughout the City.

Sacramento’s urban forest creates a more livable, healthy, and sustainable City. These trees cool our homes, roads, and neighborhoods, clean our air and water, create beautiful spaces for rest and recreation, improve public health, and absorb greenhouse gases. While the benefits trees provide can be difficult to quantify, the cumulative environmental benefit Sacramento’s trees provide to the community is estimated to be over $100 million annually.

Sacramento’s urban forest is fundamental to the City’s character and its residents’ quality of life; however, it faces several challenges. The uneven distribution of canopy cover across the City, management and infrastructure needs, pressure from development, and environmental threats worsened by climate change—such as extreme heat, drought, severe storms, and increases in pests—all require ongoing attention and action to ensure existing trees are preserved, and new trees grow. The canopy also requires a long-term plan to ensure its longevity and sustainability. The Sacramento Urban Forest Plan (SUFP) provides a guiding vision and policy framework to ensure a thriving, growing urban forest that supports our community health and climate resilience goals for future generations.

Purpose of the Plan:

The SUFP is the City’s primary planning tool for protecting, expanding, maintaining, enhancing, and protecting Sacramento’s urban forest. Its core is a set of goals, policies, implementation measures, and actions that set ambitious urban forestry targets, measure progress, and support a healthy and sustainable urban forest.

The SUFP's policy and program framework informed the development of the City’s 2040 General Plan and the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP), as related to the urban forest, and was integrated into these plans to serve as an implementation tool.

Prior Community Engagement:

To understand community values and provide residents and partners multiple opportunities to express their views, the development of the SUFP included the formation of and meetings for a Partner Advisory Committee (formerly called the Stakeholder Representative Group), numerous public meetings and workshops, a digital survey, and a series of pop-up booths at community events.

2024 Draft Plan:
From Arbor Day, April 26th, to June 21st, 2024, the city of Sacramento released a draft SUFP plan for public review. Public outreach initiatives were carried out to increase community awareness and involvement with the draft plan. Opening the draft plan up for review served the purpose of receiving community feedback and ensuring the SUFP aligns with Sacramento's public needs and objectives. Releasing the draft plan for public review persisted in community involvement in equitably increasing Sacramento’s tree canopy.

Public Notification and Awareness Strategies

Below is a summary of the project team's notification efforts and strategies to build awareness about the Urban Forest Draft Plan. The strategy involved key stakeholders: residents, major employers, conservation groups, environmental business organizations, underrepresented communities, and the general public. The purpose of the engagement was to inform the community about the current live draft plan and help educate them on how to leave informed input.

The public outreach effort helped the city retrieve public concerns and input by engaging key stakeholders and the community through specific outreach strategies during the two-month live draft plan.

Key outreach objectives include:

·  Update and inform the public about the Urban Forest Draft Plan and the City’s goals and objectives.

·  Gather community input on the draft plan via the Konvieo page

·  Provide accessible public outreach opportunities and education for underrepresented communities.

The input received will shape the final plan and help ensure the creation of a plan supported by the community.

Strategies:

·  Konvieo Page

·  Animated Video

·  Communication Collateral (flyer, fact sheets, and takeaway card)

·  Pop-Up Events (4)

·  Public Lawn Signs (30)

·  Stakeholder Communication (Calls and Emails)

·  Flyer Delivery to Libraries and Community Centers

·  Social Media and Online Engagement

Key Stakeholders

The UFP outreach plan created a comprehensive, community-wide discussion and included the following key stakeholder groups:

Elected Officials: City council members and their offices for each district who are interested in environmental activity within Sacramento.

Economic-based Organizations: Business Partnerships, Neighborhood Associations, and Neighborhood Districts throughout Sacramento, including R Street Partnership, Downtown Sacramento Partnership, Midtown Association, Power Inn Alliance, Visit Sacramento, and multiple Chambers of Commerce.

Environmental Organizations: Sacramento Tree Foundation, Breath Sacramento, Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS), American River Parkway Foundation, Sacramento River Coalition, Soil Born Farms, Food Literacy Center, Sacramento Area Bike Advocates, Civic Thread.

Health Organizations: Local health organizations, including Sacramento Emergency Air Clean Air Transportation (SECAT), Sacramento Region Spare the Air, Kaiser Permanente Healthy Lifestyle Programs, Sacramento Native American Health Center (SNHAC)

Underrepresented Groups: Economically disadvantaged (Very low income to low income), as well as the Chambers of Commerce: Black Chamber of Commerce, Asian Chamber of Commerce, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Education-based Organizations:  Schools within all 8 of the Sacramento Districts, including the Sacramento Unified School District, the Elk Grove Unified School District, Twin Rivers Unified School District, Natomas Unified School District

Recreational Groups: Walking or hiking groups within Sacramento County, including Sacramento Bike Hikers, the Sacramento Walking Sticks, and the Sacramento Wheelmen.

Konveio Page

The Konveio Page was the primary tool utilized by the project team to foster community engagement during this project. This platform hosted the live draft plan along with project details. It served as a resource for community members to interact directly with the draft plan by leaving comments and providing feedback. This interactive feature was instrumental in ensuring that community perspectives and concerns were thoroughly incorporated into the planning process.

The Konveio webpage was divided into stations that organized the document into segments. Each station had a concise summary of that specific segment of the draft plan. This made it digestible to those who did not want to read the entirety of the dense text. For individuals who indeed wanted to read entire sections of the draft plan, a link was available as well; with the opportunity to leave comments and feedback throughout the document.

Station 1: Introduction This station covered pages 1-23 of the draft plan and included an overview of the project goals, benefits, and key recommendations.

Station 2: Existing Conditions This station covered pages 24 - 71 of the draft plan and reviewed the state of Sacramento's current urban tree canopy and the existing conditions.

Station 3: Policy and Framework This station covered pages 72 - 94 of the draft plan and included the vision, guiding principles, and goals and strategies proposed by the SUFP.

Station 4: Implementation and Strategy This station covered pages 94 - 105 of the draft plan and included an overview of how the goals and strategies will be implemented.

Station 5: Appendices This station covered pages 106 - 188 of the draft plan and included the SUFP appendices.

At the bottom of each station’s page, there was a prompt to leave feedback regarding what they read in that station. The feedback was in open comment format, with a general question prompted regarding the section.

The City of Sacramento’s UFP project website prominently featured a link to the Konveio Page housing the draft plan. This strategic integration helped streamline access for community members, ensuring seamless navigation and engagement with the planning documents.

The Konveio web page was also promoted across various communication channels to maximize outreach and community involvement. By leveraging diverse outreach methods, the team aimed to encourage widespread participation and gather diverse perspectives from all community segments. The overarching goal of the Konveio Page was to facilitate feedback collection from community members.

Animated Video for Konveio Page

An animated video discussing SUFP was also available to those who visited the Konveio page. With busy community members, this was a great asset in delivering concise SUFP Draft Plan info for those who may not have as much time as others to read over the draft plan. The two-minute and fifty-three-second video gave an overview of the project’s background, purpose, and goals. Covering the main takeaways from the draft plan, the video was a great way to deliver concise information to the public.

Communication Collateral

The project team created several creative collaterals to get the word out about the live draft plan. Flyers, take-away cards, fact sheets, project boards, feedback forms, and kid’s quizzes were all created and printed in both English and Spanish for accessibility to the information. The flyers and takeaway cards had useful information regarding the draft plan website and project. They were left at community locations and handed out at pop-up events. The fact sheets had project background and information for community members at pop-ups who wanted further information about the project. The project board dot activities were utilized to inform the public at community event pop-ups and get direct feedback about UFP goals. All communication collateral was key to bringing the SUFP to its community members at libraries, farmers markets, community centers, etc.  

Pop-Up Events (Note for Darlene: insert in a variety of the picutres they don’t have to be for each event)

Mobile project displays and interactive activities (pop-ups) are another good way to engage the public and solicit feedback where people are. Pop-up events also allow the project team to meet community members where they are already gathering, advertise the draft plan, and get input from key stakeholder groups, especially the historically underrepresented community members.

For the draft UFP, four key pop-up events were selected and attended by project staff. These events were researched and sought out as the most impactful for the communities they serve. The team was not looking for regional events but instead an opportunity to connect, inform, and educate local, hard-to-reach communities on the draft plan and how to make their voices heard.

The four events selected were as follows:

·  May 18th – Sacramento Area Bike Advocates/Civic Thread – Bike Month Cargo Races (9 am – 2 pm)

·  June 1st – Oak Park Farmer Market (8 am – 1 pm)

·  June 8th – Natomas Farmers Market (8:30 am – 12:30 pm)

·  June 19th – District One Food Truck Mania  - (5 pm – 9 pm)

Each event was set up to help educate and inform the community members about the draft plan. Collateral pieces were created, including giveaway cards with the Konvieo draft plan QR code, interactive dot sticker boards about what goal they prioritized, tree champion quizzes for kids, and high-level fact sheets designed to give community members a sense of what they would find in the draft plan. The tables were filled with giveaway items, educational displays and activities for all ages and abilities.

The feedback given to the project team was encouraged to be left directly on the draft plan site via Konveio, but the conversations were fascinating. Community members were highly engaged at the SABA/Civic Thread event; many had already visited the draft plan site and asked informed questions about budget, education, and future planning. The two farmers market the team attended gave a unique opportunity to talk to local families in the area (many with kids) about the draft plan, how to comment and interact with it, and answer more program questions about how the input was received and how the plan was created. The final food truck pop-up on June 19th was planned for just a few days before the draft plan closed to serve as a final celebration and a final push for comments.

Lawn Signs

Project team staff distributed thirty lawn signs throughout Sacramento. The locations were chosen based on high community foot traffic. The lawn signs,  alerted community members that the draft plan was live, with an accompanying QR code and draft plan website link. This initiative was another outreach approach to reach community members in community spaces. 

Lawn sign locations:

·  Howe Community Park

·  Kadema Drive River Access

·  Arden Park Recreation & Park District

·  Albert Winn Park

·  California State Capitol Park

·  Freemont Park

·  Sutter’s Fort

·  McClatchy Park

·  Tahoe Park

·  Fruitridge Community Collaborative

·  Frank Seymour Park

·  Garcia Bend Park

·  Hagginwood Park

·  Robertson Community Center

·  North Natomas Regional Park

·  Robla School District Office

·  Northgate Park

·  South Natomas Community Park

·  Rio Tierra Park

·  Giò Chả Đức Hương Sandwiches

·  Pollack Ranch Park

·  Vinh Phat Supermarket

·  Cabrillo Park

·  William Land Regional Park

·  Sacramento Zoo

·  Oak Park Community Center

·  Esther’s Park (First Fridays)

·  McKinley Rose Garden

·  Old Sacramento Historic State Park

Stakeholder Communication: Calls and Emails

The project team contacted more than 100 stakeholder groups representing active transportation/mobility advocates, business interests, disadvantaged communities, persons with disabilities, the elderly community, environmental groups and public health organizations, schools, public transit, and neighborhood associations in Sacramento. Through personal phone calls and emails, the project team notified these groups about the draft plan and requested they share the information with their organization through email newsletters, social media posts, website updates, or other communication links.

A sample of the groups contacted:

·  350 Sacramento

·  Active Transportation Commission

·  AARP

·  Asian Resources

·  Black Child Legacy

·  CARES Workforce Recovery

·  City College

·  Colonial Village Neighborhood

·  D2 Community Conversations

·  Del Paso Boulevard Partnership

·  Downtown Sacramento Partnership

·  ECOS -

·  Fruitridge Community Collab

·  Gardenland Northgate Neighborhood Association

·  Greater Broadway Partnership

·  Greenhouse, The

·  House Sacramento

·  IRC- International Rescue Comm.

·  La Familia Counseling Center

·  Lu Mien Community Services

·  Meadowview Neighborhood

·  Midtown Association

·  Natomas JIBE

·  Oak Park Neighborhood

·  Power Inn Alliance

·  Red, Black and Green Environmental Justice Coalition

·  Resources for Independent Living

·  Robla Park Community Assoc.

·  Sacramento Area Bicycling Advocates (SABA

·  Sacramento Black Chamber

·  Sacramento Hispanic Chamber 

·  Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency

·  Sacramento Metro Chamber

·  Sacramento Rainbow Chamber

·  South Natomas Improvement

·  South Natomas United

·  South Oak Park Neighborhood

·  Southeast Village Neighborhood

·  Stockton Boulevard Partnership

The city sent an e-mail notification to over 2,000 community members and one reminder to the database of community members who have signed up for the city’s newsletter. It also posted an informational blog to its City Express publication.

Flyer Delivery

Flyers and collateral were delivered to community locations like libraries and community centers on June 4th and June 12th. The purpose of these flyers in these locations was to reach underrepresented communities and individuals who visit these locations. The flyers gave info on the project and solicited community feedback via a QR code and website link.

Flyer Delivery Locations

·  Hagginwood Community Center

·  South Natomas Community Center

·  Clunie Community Center 

·  Oak Park Community Center 

·  Coloma Community Center

·  George Sim Community Center

·  Belle Cooledge Community Center

·  Pannell Meadowview Community June

Social Media Posts

Social media played a key role in the outreach campaign to increase awareness of the draft plan and overall project within Sacramento’s online community. The project team boosted a Facebook post targeting Sacramento resident, reaching over 72,000 users and generating over 8,00 interactions. This post effectively informed residents about the availability of the live draft plan.

In addition to social media efforts, Sacramento-based organizations such as 350 Sacramento, Jibe Natomas, Civic Thread, ECOS, Sacramento Tree Foundation and South Natomas TMA were engaged through calls and emails to share the interactive draft plan with their followers. Each organization posted a link to the plan, extending its reach within the community. Further engagement included multiple posts on the City of Sacramento’s Facebook and Instagram pages and AIM Consulting’s Facebook page. These efforts were part of a strategy to connect with Sacramento residents who may not have been aware of the draft plan, providing them with information and inviting feedback.

Lastly, project staff posted about the SUFP to several Sacramento-based Facebook groups. Specific Sacramento groups helped boost outreach efforts to smaller interpersonal community groups.