Environment & Sustainability

“We are dedicated to providing the highest quality services to our community by developing and implementing adaptation and mitigation initiatives to preserve, protect, and enhance our natural resources.”

​​​​​​​The Environment and Sustainability Department is represented by professional and licensed disciplines working in Administration, Environmental Resources, Sustainability and Resilience, and Urban Forestry.

Explore MBRisingAbove.com to find out how our dedicated team of professionals are actively working on climate adaptation and mitigation projects that make a positive impact on our environment.

Environmental Resources Management Division
Provides internal support across City departments to ensure all public projects, not just those labeled as environmental, avoid, minimize, and mitigate environmental impacts, as well as enhance the natural environment through their design. This Division serves as the City’s in-house environmental consultant and is the liaison between the City and other government agencies for environmental concerns.

Sustainability and Resilience Division
Works with City Departments, government partners, and community partners to help the City respond to the challenges posed by climate change through mitigation and adaptation strategies. The sustainability team focuses on mitigation—advancing programs, policies, and plans that lessen the environmental impact of City and community operations. The team’s strategies focus on reducing waste, promoting energy efficiency, and providing engaging community outreach and education. The resilience team focuses on adaptation—advancing programs, policies, and plans that help the City and community plan for and adapt to the sudden shocks and long-term stresses exacerbated by climate change. These activities focus on flood risk mitigation across the public and private realm, with an additional interest in extreme heat.

Urban Forestry Division
Oversees the urban forest by providing regulatory supervision and management. This division issues tree permits, oversees tree mitigation, conducts heritage tree evaluations, conducts tree protection barrier inspections, provides tree risk assessments, and reviews plans for citywide tree selection/installations. The division also oversees the Urban Forestry Master Plan, GOB Project #33 Street Plan, and the Commemorative and Heritage Tree Programs.

Quality Policy