The City of Harrisonburg recognizes the value of green infrastructure to our community. Through Harrisonburg's Urban Forestry Program, City staff work to increase tree canopy in Harrisonburg improving the air we breathe, reducing urban noise, filtering our water, helping control stormwater runoff, providing shade and habitat for a wide variety of living things, and enhancing the beauty our urban landscapes.
To manage and improve the City’s Urban Forests, the Public Works Department utilizes the skills of five certified arborists on staff, three of which are International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) Tree Risk Assessment Qualified (TRAQ).
Harrisonburg’s Urban Forestry Management Plan
The City of Harrisonburg has a vision that its urban forest is safe, efficient to maintain, complements its development goals, delivers equitable benefits, and enhances the character and livability of the city. To accomplish goals to realize this vision, a comprehensive urban forest management plan is required. This plan was developed to assist Harrisonburg to better understanding its urban forest’s composition, structure, and tree maintenance needs as well as plan for both short-term and long-term resource allocation and develop risk management strategies. The City is working through a Urban Forestry Management plan that was created in 2021, planting a diverse selection of trees not exceeding 10% of each species, one of the primary goals of the nine action steps found in the plan. Staff plants and maintains an average of 300 trees annually in the City.
Urban Forest Management Master Plan [4MB]
Tree Care and Maintenance In Your Own Yard
City Resources
- Looking to plant trees in your yard? Check out the City's HCAP (Harrisonburg Conservation Assistance Program)! HCAP is a cost share reimbursement program aimed at assisting eligible landowners with their stormwater concerns. HCAP will pay 100% of your estimated cost up to $3,500 to plant new or replant lost trees! More information may be found on our HCAP webpage.
Contact your Harrisonburg City Arborists for tree care recommendations by emailing Jeremy.Harold@harrisonburgva.gov
Hiring an Arborist
- Find a Certified Arborist for a Tree Risk Assessment in Your Yard on the MAC-ISA Good Tree Care website
- Virginia Cooperative Extension - Hiring an Arborist to Care for Your Landscape Trees [593KB]
Tree Planting and Care
- A Year of Total Tree Care Diagram [10.6MB]
- US Department of Agriculture Forestry Service - Tree Owners Manual
- Virginia Department of Forestry - Throwing Shade VA Program
What Not to Do
- Trees Virginia - Experts Agree, Don't Top Your Tree Brochure
Ways to Kill A Tree Poster (& How Not to Kill a Tree) [1.17MB]
Urban Forestry & Urban Wood Program Resources
The City of Harrisonburg focuses on the care and management of trees and tree populations for the purpose of improving our urban environment. Efforts and city projects relating to urban forestry advocates the role of trees as a critical part of Harrisonburg's urban infrastructure. Participation with local related organizations and current efforts within the city include:
City Efforts:
- Harrisonburg's Public Surplus Website
- Tree City USA designation by the Arbor Day Foundation
- Participation with the Virginia Big Tree Program and Remarkable Trees Program
- Participation in projects with the Virginia Department of Forestry
- Blacks Run Clean Up Day Event and Green Scene
- Tree Canopy Studies
- Harrisonburg Public Works Stormwater Projects
- Care and Maintenance of Public Trees
- Harrisonburg Urban Wood Program Video "Out of the Ashes"
Partner Efforts:
- VADOF Throwing Shade VA Program
- Virginia Urban Wood Group
- Trees Virginia Urban Forest Council
- VADOF Emerald Ash Borer Story Map
- VADOF Emerald Ash Borer Public Education and Ash Tree Management and Cost Share Program
- Society of American Foresters - Forest Proud - "Urban Wood. Recover. Regrow" video
- Society of American Foresters - Forest Proud - "Urban Wood for People + Planet" video
Featured Articles and Media Coverage
- "Harrisonburg implements a second life for fallen trees" Article - The Municipal magazine
- VADOF State of the Forest Annual Report 2024 Grantee Highlight Story (page 17)
- VADOF "Trees with a Future" publication
- Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance "Local Ash Tree Finds New Home in HDR Office" and "Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance gives ash trees new life"
- The Breeze "Harrisonburg, VDOF begin ash borer treatment program"
For more information about Harrisonburg Public Works Urban Forestry and Urban Wood Utilization efforts contact Jeremy.Harold@harrisonburgva.gov.