Urban Forestry ProgramWebsite Buttons - Approved Tree List

The City of Oxford cares for and maintains an urban forest of more than 3,000 maintained street, park, and public trees. This tally does not even include the number of trees in wooded lots that Oxford is responsible for. Each year the City plants new trees and removes or prunes trees to maintain our urban forest and increase its diversity. In addition, to our Urban Forestry Program, Oxford also sponsors a Tree Replacement Program to remove and replace dead Ash trees throughout the City.

Our Urban Forest enhances Oxford and provides benefits to the environment physically, aesthetically, and economically.

  • Trees absorb air pollutants, heat, and noise, reduce wind velocity, and reduce stormwater run-off, erosion, and subsequent block-up of drainage channels.
  • Trees aid in stress reduction.
  • Tree cover provides shading, shelter, protective pathways for movement and food sources for wildlife.
  • Tree shading and heat absorption reduce energy costs.
  • Significant funds are saved from erosional repair and flood damage.
  • Trees have the potential to increase property values.
  • Oxford’s public trees have an appraisal value of $2,980,000! (Calculated through a 1996 tree inventory and management report).

Oxford is especially proud of our designation as a “Tree City USA” by the Arbor Day Foundation since 1996. As a state, Ohio leads the nation for the number of communities named by the Foundation as a Tree City USA, with over 230 communities receiving the designation. 

Memorial Tree Plaque Program

Oxford's Park and Recreation Department offers a Memorial Tree Plaque Program. Citizens can purchase a memorial tree in honor of a loved one to be planted in the Oxford community. The name of the individual will be inscribed on the 30" x 24" cast bronze Memorial Tree Plaque, located at the Oxford Community Park by the flag pole.

Trees available for purchase are:

Red Sunset Maple

Donald Wyman Crabapple

Swamp White Oak

Japanese Silk Lilac

For more information, contact Casey Wooddell at Oxford Parks & Recreation - Contact

scott kissell - Copy - Copy

Oxford’s Tree Plan has 78 species of trees from 23 families in the approved street tree list. These trees are broken into three size categories - small, medium, and large. Each area is assessed based on the width of the tree lawn (lawn between curb and sidewalk) and whether the trees will be planted under overhead utility lines to decide which size of tree to plant.  Click this link for a full list of trees in Oxford. 

Ash trees are removed as they die or they become potentially dangerous. Many ash trees have to be removed due to the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). (Read more about the EAB below). The City also removes and prunes trees as needed. Typically, if more than 30-50% of a tree's branches are damaged, a tree will die and could become a danger to people and property. 

The EAB is an invasive beetle species native to Asia. It bores into the wood of ash trees and slowly destroys them. The beetle was first discovered in the US in Michigan in 2002. Since its discovery, it has killed millions of Ash trees across North America. Learn more about the EAB here.

Existing Ash trees are continuously treated with a systemic herbicide by a licensed applicator. All Ash trees that die are removed and replaced with non-EAB host trees.

The City’s budget for the program is over $30,000 and is used to cover the funding and labor expenses. The program is a long-term allocation of the General Fund.

Largely through monies provided by City Council. The program is a short-term allocation of the Capital Projects fund.

A community must satisfy four standards to be considered for the designation:

  1. A tree board or department
  2. A community Tree Ordinance
  3. An Urban Forestry Program with an annual budget of at least $2 per capita
  4. An Arbor Day Observance

Curious to learn more about Urban Forestry? Check out the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry.