City foresters got a $1 million boost in 2006-07 from nonprofit fund-raisers and, after decades of neglect, were on their way to reversing the woes of the city's street trees.

But the best way for them to start was the worst for public relations.

The backlash hit in Squirrel Hill last month. By then, the city had completed the felling of 909 trees identified as most hazardous and was in the process of removing another 1,640, labeled "priority 2."

Thursday night, reaction to the city's tree management plan went from bellicose to pleading to heckling among roughly 100 residents who filled a meeting room at the Children's Institute along with members of the Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest, the city's Department of Public Works, and Councilmen Doug Shields and William Peduto.

A citywide inventory conducted by Davey Resource Group in 2005 counted 30,538 street trees and recommended a seven-year, $8 million plan to cut dead ones, establish a pruning schedule to maintain the health of the rest and plant 4,200 new trees.

The nonprofit Friends of the Pittsburgh Urban Forest raised $1 million toward the cost, and the city contributed about $250,000 from its capital budget.

Diana Ames, founder of the nonprofit, a partner of the city's Shade Tree Commission, said the Friends group "will continue to raise money to see the tree-stewardship plan through."

City forester David Jahn, a certified arborist, said that just because a tree is a priority 2 removal doesn't mean it's less of a liability to the city. If it's slated for removal, "the best day for its removal was yesterday," he said.

Many in the crowd said they were angry that the city had not shared the plan with the neighborhood or prepared it for the shock, and some said the city was overreacting to the unlikelihood of a liability issue.

The 14th Ward -- most of which is Squirrel Hill -- has the most street trees of any ward with 5,990, and it has taken the most intense swing of the ax. Of the 3,100 trees to be removed through the end of this year, 555 are in the ward.

Other wards would lose a greater percentage of their street trees than the 14th, in which 9 percent are to be cut down.

The 13th Ward, part of Homewood and East Hills, will have a 16 percent loss of trees. The 30th Ward, which is Knoxville, and the 26th Ward, including Perry South, Perry North, Summer Hill and Spring Hill, both will have 10 percent losses.

Losses in wards with higher percentages are more scattered for a less-traumatic impact, said Mike Gable, deputy director of public works.

Squirrel Hill was both blessed and plagued by rows and rows of stately London plane trees, which are susceptible to the spread of disease.

Some at the meeting asked for a process to appeal a scheduled tree cutting and called for a task force to include residents. They also sought a moratorium on new removals in the meantime.

Yesterday, Mr. Gable said his department would "step back ... and revisit Ward 14 later."

"I sympathize with the people in the sense that they are losing a lot of trees," he said. "But I will tell you right now I am still going to go under the belief that priority 2 and 3 removals are still liabilities."