CITY HALL
Pensacola Wins National Tree Honors—But the Real Fight Coming Over Heritage Oaks
Two conservation groups are praising the City’s tree canopy work, even as Council prepares to weigh tougher and pricier protections for the biggest Live Oaks left standing.
Pensacola picked up back-to-back national recognition this month for its urban forestry work, with the Arbor Day Foundation naming the city a 2025 Tree City USA and American Forests designating it a Tree Equity Champion City for using tree canopy to combat extreme heat in vulnerable neighborhoods.
American Forests also singled out Mayor D.C. Reeves personally, crediting him for lobbying alongside other mayors nationally for federal urban forestry funding in 2025.
“The natural beauty of our City is one of our greatest assets, and our tree canopy is a huge part of the culture of Pensacola,” Reeves said. “We are grateful for these honors, but we are not resting on what we have accomplished.”
Reeves pointed to more than $650,000 sitting in the City’s Tree Trust Fund, money earmarked for plantings that add shade and curb appeal to neighborhoods.
By the numbers so far in 2026:
- 54 trees planted, with 30 more expected by December
- 253 tree plantings given away during April’s Arbor Day celebration
- Two Canopy Restoration Council plantings expected this year, roughly 80 trees each
- $46,828 spent from the Tree Trust Fund since October 2025
- 416 trees planted or given away in all of 2025
Where the money comes from: The Tree Planting Trust Fund was established in 2000 and is funded by mitigation fees and fines tied to the city’s tree and landscape ordinances, supplemented by neighborhood restoration programs and outside grants. Public Works also uses GIS mapping to identify urban heat islands and canopy gaps so plantings go where they’re needed most.
The Ordinance Fight Ahead
The awards are the easy part. The harder conversation starts later this summer, when City Councilman Jared Moore brings a package of amendments to Pensacola’s tree ordinance aimed squarely at protecting the city’s largest heritage Live Oaks.
“There’s a real cost to the community when we lose one of these heritage trees, I’d like to make sure that that cost is covered,” Moore said.
What’s on the table:
- A new $1,000 application fee to seek removal of any 40+ inch DBH Live Oak (Quercus virginiana)
- Inch-for-inch replacement requirements for removed trees
- A $500-per-inch mitigation fee for required replacement diameter that can’t be planted on site, plus an additional $1,500 mature canopy mitigation fee for each 40+ inch DBH Live Oak removed
- A residential mitigation cap of $1,500 per protected tree on small, developed residential lots, rising to a $3,000 cap per 40+ inch DBH Live Oak — with no cap for trees in City rights-of-way
- Tighter rules on retention credits: available only for proposed development sites, not already-developed property or rights-of-way, capped at 50% of otherwise-applicable mitigation, with mature canopy fees still due regardless