Why Sacramento is known as the “City of Trees”?

Sacramento is the capital of the American state of California. This city is known as the “City of Trees”. But why it is called the city of trees? It’s probably because it features a lot of trees but let’s find out more in this blog post. 

So many residents of Sacramento say that living in Sacramento is like living in the park and it couldn’t be far from the truth. Sacramento city features all kinds of trees including oak, maple, elms, and many more species of trees. Basically, the “city of trees” nickname dates back to 1855 and by the early 1900s, it really got stuck. Now the Land Park has the most trees in the city and you can see tractors in Sacramento harvesting in many parks by horticulture authorities. Natives say that this city wasn’t always like this. There weren’t any trees in there, instead, it was plain land. According to the people in Sacramento, there was a miner who stuck 12 cottonwood trees around his residence. That was supposed to be the first-time plantation of trees in Sacramento but shortly after that, the officials in Sacramento spread more seeds to grow more trees in order to dry the plain land as a part of a community effort. The first trees that were ever planted in Sacramento were Eucalyptus and they immediately solved the problem of swampy areas in Sacramento city. Still, this wasn’t the official activity but a community effort, the elites of the city influenced the plantation throughout the city. Locusts, and willow were really deal breakers by that time, but residents say that they don’t plant these anymore along the streets. Anyhow, later on, elms, palm trees, and fruit trees were planted along the streets by the residents across the city, and this was all around in the early 1900s. but this trend also didn’t last for long because it caused a lot of mess on the streets of Sacramento. 

After 1920, in the 1930s, the Sacramento authorities decided to plant 1 tree for two people. People started doing that. This trend sparked a rumor that Sacramento has more tree canopy than Paris, but it is not true. Paris has 1 tree per 10 people while Sacramento has 1 tree per 2 people, so Sacramento just happens to have more trees per capita. 

As of now, Sacramento does feature more trees than any other city in the US. Sacramento City has been still above average in terms of trees. The city official proudly embraces the trees as they say we have the top urban forest and every city features something like that. However, compared to the previous years, the plantation and growth of some trees have been affected due to climate change and global warming. Experts believe that Sacramento has reached saturation level for some tree species. Redwood and birches may not grow here because the temperature keeps on rising here. But at the same, there are chances of a different kind of eucalyptus and Palo Verde in drier and hotter weather.