PURPOSE OF THIS ANALYSIS

The City of Cupertino is located within Santa Clara County, California (Figure 1). It is approximately 11 square miles or 7,231 acres of which 7,226 are land acres. Across the city, trees along streets, in parks, yards, and natural areas constitute a valuable urban and community forest. This resource is a critical element of the region’s green infrastructure, contributing to environmental quality, public health, water supply, local economies, and aesthetics. The primary goal of this assessment was to provide a baseline and benchmark of the City’s tree canopy, interpret the results across a range of geographic boundaries, and evaluate how the City’s canopy has changed since 2009.

URBAN TREE CANOPY IN CUPERTINO

Land cover results of this study indicated that in 2018, the City of Cupertino had 23% urban tree canopy (or 1,684 acres of the 7,231 total acres); 18% non-canopy vegetation (1,291 acres), 10% soil/dry vegetation (758 acres), 48% impervious (3,494 acres); and less than 1% water (5 acres). Urban tree canopy (UTC) and possible planting area (PPA) results are based on land area which is equal to the total area minus water area (7,231 – 5 = 7,226 acres). UTC cover was 23% (1,684 acres), 27% (1,983 acres) was suitable for future tree plantings, and 49% (3,558 acres) was unsuitable due to its current land use or other restraint. In further dividing the City’s urban tree canopy, 9% was overhanging impervious surfaces, and 91% of all canopy was overhanging pervious surfaces. Cupertino lost less than 1% (34 Acres) urban tree canopy since 2009.

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