Urban Forestry Master Plan Development Service

The City of Chesapeake, Virginia, is seeking a vendor to develop an urban forestry master plan that supports a healthy, diverse, and resilient tree canopy. The agency aims to improve canopy quality and coverage, expand wildlife habitat, mitigate heat islands, increase equity in canopy distribution, and maximize long-term environmental benefits. This plan must integrate existing canopy assessment data from Tree Plotter or an approved equivalent and quantify current and future ecosystem service benefits. The scope of work requires establishing realistic canopy goals, creating an implementation timeline, and developing a public inventory of trees on agency-owned property. This inventory must include species, size, GPS location, condition rating, hazards, and distribution metrics. The selected vendor must also create a public-facing interactive map similar to the interactive map currently serving the agency. The agency requires the development of management and maintenance recommendations in collaboration with staff, as well as the identification of vacant planting sites throughout the city, including street medians and agency-owned parcels. The project involves recommending strategies to improve efficiencies, lower costs, and reduce liabilities while enhancing interdepartmental coordination and communication. The vendor must propose incentives for tree planting and maintenance, identify strategies to improve urban forest resilience against invasive species, pests, and catastrophic events, and recommend strategies to improve community health. The agency is seeking proposals that promote community stewardship and support the involvement of nonprofit partners. Eligible bidders must be onshore United States organizations, and the performance of the work must take place onsite. Bidders may submit responses digitally via email or online, and the agency is currently looking for proposals to establish the budget. All questions regarding this opportunity must be submitted no later than May 27, 2026.