Adopt a Median program

City of Dallas

URBAN FOREST ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Adopt-A-Median

The City of Dallas Street Department is working in cooperation with the City of Dallas Urban Forest Advisory Committee to encourage the public to plant and maintain trees throughout the city.  The city provides free trees, and the Urban Forest Advisory Committee provides the expertise to those willing to volunteer their time to make Dallas a cooler, greener, and healthier community. 

Due to declining regional air quality and increasing inner-city temperatures related to the heat island effect, as well as a lack of street trees in many areas and a limited city budget, there is a great need to plant more trees in city medians. 

Trees benefit our health and sense of well-being, our quality of life, as well as our economic future.  Expanding the benefits of a healthy urban forest canopy cover to all citizens is an important goal that requires the full support of the public.    

Citizens often ask what can be done to help our environment and quality of life.  The “Adopt-A-Median” program offers the opportunity for individuals, citizen groups (homeowner associations) and corporations to take ownership of a street median as good stewards or good corporate citizens of Dallas.  With the public taking ownership of these areas, we not only help our environment, but we also make Dallas more livable and sustainable.

The Adopt-A-Median program relies primarily on the existing “MOWmentum” agreement to outline the criteria involved in planting trees in a street median.  The “MOWmentum Volunteer Service Agreement” is a joint effort between our city government and residents to keep our rights-of-way and neighborhoods clean and beautiful.  The program allows the public an opportunity to adopt portions of public rights-of-way for the purpose of maintaining and improving the property.  In past years, funding for tree irrigation on public property was provided through the MOWmentum program.  For more information about the program guidelines:  MOWmentum webpage

The “Dallas Reforestation Fund” provides free trees to citizens and companies wanting to plant trees on public property.  The funds come from those that remove protected trees but may not be able to replant them on their property.  For more information, please contact Mr. Phil Erwin, Chief Arborist, 214-948-4117 or philip.erwin@dallas.gov 

Please contact us for details about what to plant and how: www.dallastrees.org