The City Council recently adopted the Citrus Heights Urban Greening Strategy (CHUGS). This effort includes several interrelated documents including an Urban Forest Master Plan and Native/Drought-Tolerant Landscape Guidelines. These documents are available on the CHUGS website, http://www.citrusheights.net/840/Citrus-Heights-Urban-Greening-Strategy-C.

The Native/Drought-Tolerant Landscape Guidelines are a great resource to help interested parties know what types of plants and trees are good choices for our local climate and soil conditions. The Urban Forest Master Plan is intended to aid the City in reaching its goal of increasing its tree canopy cover from 25 percent existing to 35 percent while maintaining a healthy urban forest.

The Zoning Code Update/Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance is intended to ensure new development will increase tree canopy, follow urban greening practices, and require water-efficient landscaping and irrigation.

For more information, see the CHUGS website or email [email protected]. The development of CHUGS was funded by an Urban Greening Planning grant from the California Strategic Growth Council.