Five Alarm Tree Fire

As San Francisco’s canopy shrinks our right to appeal is under attack.

by Joshua Klipp

• • • • • • • • January 2026 • • • • • • • •

The Mayor’s Office and Supervisor Alan Wong want to block the public from fighting to save trees that are targeted by any City Department. Here’s a link to the proposed legislation.

If you are a part of Mission Verde and worked for years to save trees along 24th Street;, if you live in North Beach and were involved in the struggle to save Washington Square trees; if you fought the SFMTA’s proposal to cut down all the trees on Van Ness for the Bus Rapid Transit Lane; if you were someone who fought for the Main Library trees — you were able to do that because you had the right to appeal a tree removal permit. If this right disappears, City departments can gift themselves a permit to chop down any tree with no oversight.

For environmentalists, it’s hard to put into words how disheartening this is. Appealing a tree removal permit is one of the few remaining and effective tools we have to push for better environmental outcomes. What’s even more disheartening, though, is how this came about. Last year, Rec & Park sought to remove some trees in UN Plaza to make way for its new skate park. Since these were street trees, Rec Park needed a removal permit from DPW, which it obtained. Since the permit was appealable, a member of the public filed an appeal — which meant the tree removal should have been temporarily on hold. But Rec & Park was in a hurry to build the skate park so they could keep their Grand Opening party for wealthy donors on schedule. So, knowing it was illegal, Rec & Park ignored the appeal period (the law) and cut down the trees anyway.

Attorney Joshua Klipp, also a member of the San Francisco Urban Forestry Council, represented the appellant in that appeal and knew this was a bad look for the City. For half a year, he unsuccessfully tried to reach a positive settlement that would have avoided a hearing. When it finally went before the Board of Appeals and, when the Board found out that a City department knowingly and admittedly broke a City law (to please their donors, no less), they went ballistic, and reamed Rec & Park.

Did Rec Park hang their head in shame? Nope. Rumor has it that, instead, they ran to the Mayor’s Office, where the Mayor was happy to oblige. Rather than castigating a City department for intentionally breaking City law, our Mayor proposed simply changing the law so that the public can no longer appeal City-initiated tree removals. Problem solved, right?

We live in a time when federal elected and appointed leaders routinely ignore the law, and the people’s right to speak out is being systematically silenced. This small change may not seem like much, but it is, effectively, our own City government doing the same thing: violating their own laws, then telling the public to sit down and shut up.

Importantly, the Mayor’s effort to remove the right to appeal does not impact private or commercial development. It only effects City-initiated tree removals, meaning, removals related to things like installing new sidewalks, e.g.: when the City’s Better Market Street Team proposed to remove over 700 trees along Market Street. Private developers would still be subject to appeals for tree removals related to, e.g., housing and commercial buildings. This, in turn, would incentivize developers to lean on the City to remove those trees on their behalf, effectively underwriting the work of tree removals for private development with taxpayer money.

The Mayor is pushing this legislation – proposed to the Board of Supervisors on December 9, 2025 - with the help of District 4 Supervisor Alan Wong, who the Mayor appointed on December 1, 2025. This means that, within a week of Wong’s appointment, the Mayor leveraged Wong’s appointment to advance legislation that silences San Franciscans. We need to stand up for the environment. We must express public opposition to overrunning another of our rights.

1. Email or call your supervisor and ask them to oppose this misguided effort to reduce accountability and silence the public. If you have ever been involved in a tree appeal for a City-initiated removal, tell them what that meant to you. If you have been a part of Mission Verde - a program that the Board of Supervisors has itself lauded - remind them that this never would have happened if the public did not have a right to appeal. Because appeals aren’t just adversarial, they can be an opportunity to create a better solution, which is exactly what we have done.
2. Forward this email to anyone who cares about the future of San Francisco’s urban canopy and climate resilience.

Thank you in advance for speaking out.
 

Joshua Kipp is an environmental activist in San Francisco.

January 2026