During January and February of 2015 the Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department of Fitchburg released the city-wide 2015 Fitchburg Urban Forest Survey. The purpose of this survey was to gather public input to aid in the revision of the Urban Forest Strategic Management Plan - a document that guides long-term management of Fitchburg’s urban forest and shapes future tree policies.
The survey was open to the public for 25 days, from January 13th through February 6th. To facilitate access to the survey it was made available in multiple languages (English and Spanish) and formats (online as well as paper-copy). Advertisement for the survey included a short article in the 2014 December edition of the Fitchburg Star, notices on the homepage of the City website and the Parks Department website and emails sent to various groups including neighborhood associations, the Fitchburg RecServ list, the Common Council, Tree Advisory Committee and the Parks Commission. Recipients of this email were encouraged to share this information with other city residents.
There were 534 survey responses, 507 online and 27 on paper. Of those 534 responses, two were completed in Spanish. The number of total responses represents nearly 2% of Fitchburg’s population. To view the survey results please see the link at the bottom of this page.