Beginning in the 1830's men such as Edward Dorsey Hobbs, James Walker and Samuel L. Garr had nurseries and planted many of the fine species of trees that are seen throughout Anchorage.  Isaac W. Bernheim brought the Olmsted Brothers firm from Brookline, Massachusetts to landscape his estate in Anchorage at the turn of the century.  In 1914, when he was president of the Civic League, Berheim again hired the Olmsted firm to design a plan for the future development of Anchorage.  A part of that plan called for a City Forester.  Since 1988, the Anchorage Forestry Board and its Forester have continued the tradition of protecting its trees and will continue this tradition into the next century.

 

The Forestry Board, composed of City Forester Andrea Hanlon and the listed volunteers below, meets the first Monday of every month at 8:45 a.m. at Anchorage City Hall.  Their mission is the preservation of the City's remarkable urban forest through the guidelines of the City's Tree ordinance and its permitting process.  The Forestry Board distributes hundreds of young trees to the residents of Anchorage once or twice each year to help maintain a vibrant tree canopy.  Through the volunteer effortts of the committee, they manage additional projects to include: an annual Arbor Day Celebration, Forestry Educational Calendars, Hazardous Tree inventory annual review, and the Tree Canopy Campaign.

 

For more information, contact City Hall or any Forestry Board member.  2016 Forestry Board members are Chair Lucy Spickard, Ursula Brooks, Nan Dryden, Diane McAllister and Ellen Welham.

 

 

Recommended Tree List              Anchorage Forestry Handbook

 

 

Forestry Board meetings are held on the first Monday of each month at City Hall at 8:45 a.m. 

2014 Minutes 

2015 Minutes 

January

2016 Minutes 

January

January