Tree Risk Assessment in Sacramento, CA

Sacramento City Code 12.56 protects private trees: native Valley oak, blue oak, interior live oak, coast live oak, California buckeye and California sycamore at 12 inches DSH or more, and any tree at 24 inches or more on undeveloped land or commercial, industrial or apartment properties. Approved permits are required before work on city trees or private protected trees.

Valley oak: protected at 12 inches; sensitive to irrigation and root damage American and Chinese elm: large, aging; Dutch elm disease risk for American elms London plane / sycamore: common; anthracnose and large limbs

Valley oaks and other natives need permits, and summer watering at the trunk harms them.

Atmospheric rivers bring wind and heavy rain; large trees uproot (January 2023).

Century-old elms, sycamores and oaks in central neighborhoods are declining.

Older neighborhoods have alleys, detached garages and overhead lines under large canopies, so many removals are rigged out over garages and fences rather than dropped. Newer suburbs in Natomas and south Sacramento have smaller trees but tighter lots, and many were built where valley oaks once stood, so remaining native oaks there are often protected.