• Tree Management. City council wisdom has staffed arborists in two strategic areas of responsibility. The Public Works Arborist insures a professionally administered street tree replacement program is ongoing. Maintenance trimming occurs on a cycled basis. Electric Utilities provides for expert trimmers to maintain safety and reduce power outages caused by private and public trees touching conductors. The Planning Department Arborist provides professional guidance for the public, reviews landscape architecture and development plans, code and condition monitoring and interacts with city staff and special interest groups. Thus, tree protection and management is addressed proactively rather than reactively.
• City of Palo Alto, Canopy and Community Residents. The coalition of staff, community residents and the nonprofit organization Canopy has proven successful and fruitful far beyond what either of these segments alone could have independently accomplished. Canopy has achieved status as the expression of the community's love for shade trees, and is the primary source for tree-related information to the general public.
• Tree Preservation and Management Regulations is the City's primary regulatory tool to provide for orderly protection of specified trees on private and public property. The Tree Technical Manual companion document is authorized in the Code to establish specific technical regulations, standards and specifications necessary to implement the Ordinance and provide guidance for the required or recommended care, removal and replacement of regulated trees.

Because of these collective Urban Forest elements, in concert with celebrating Arbor Day, the City of Palo Alto has achieved national recognition status from the National Arbor Day Foundation and State of California, and has been granted the distinctive rating of Tree City--USA for over sixteen years standing.