The City of San Gabriel strongly encourages the preservation of the City's natural resources and has a strong Tree Preservation Ordinance for both public and private property trees.

City Owned Trees

The trees planted in between the sidewalk and curb are owned by the City. The City's urban forest is protected by the Street Tree Master Plan.

Free Street Tree for Residents

To enhance the City’s urban forest, the Public Works Department offers residents and encourages the planting of new trees. Every resident is allowed to request a City street tree to be planted in the parkway in front of their residence, if they do not currently have a tree in front of their property. This tree will be planted by the City at no cost, as long as funding is available. 

Residents must be willing to water their tree to make sure it survives while the tree gets established. The urban forest crew will go out and do all the routine pruning on the tree for the tree’s life span. 

Residents wishing to request a new street tree to be planted in the parkway please call the Public Works Department at (626) 308-2865.

Street Tree Planting Application

A Street Tree Planting Application shall be completed for the following reasons:

• Residents/Business Owners requesting additional street trees to be planted.
• Residents/Business Owners requesting additional trees for self planting.
• Part of Conditions of Approval for a project.

Complete the Street Tree Planting application if one of the above conditions are met.  A fee, which will be calculated based on each induvial application, is required to pay for the cost of any additional trees.

Street Tree Removal 

To request a Street Tree Removal please follow the steps below:

• Fill out the Street Tree Removal application.
• Take a picture of the tree. 
• Bring the application and the picture to City Hall (425 S. Mission Dr.)

Community Development Department will notify applicant once application is complete.

Water Conservation

To strongly encourage water conservation in San Gabriel, City parks use state-of-the-art irrigation controllers, replant areas with low water-consuming and drought-tolerant landscaping, and cover planters in recycled wood bark generated by the trees that are trimmed and maintained throughout the City to reduce evaporation, discouraging weed growth and promoting plant health.