Learn why urban tree canopy goals are powerful tools for urban forest management and how to set a goal that is both empirical and ambitious.

April 20, 2021  |  Alec Sabatini

Urban tree canopy goals must walk a careful line of ambition, inspiration, and practicality. To encourage well-informed canopy cover goals we have assembled some best practices to help communities find the right target for them.

“Many cities set goals — some based on careful study of current canopy, community needs, and availability of planting space. They follow the principle of “right tree, right place.” Others, based on the principle that more trees are better than fewer, set ambitious campaign goals, then work to mobilize efforts to meet it.”

-2014 Canopy Goals for US Cities, Vibrant Cities Lab

The Status of Urban Tree Canopies

Measuring, tracking, and improving urban tree canopies is an essential component of sustainable urban living. As the world’s population continues to urbanize the value of healthy UTC is only going up. Unfortunately, the global urban canopy trend is moving in the opposite direction. A worldwide analysis showed urban forest cover on average is slightly, but significantly decreasing.

The United States is also losing urban tree canopy, to the tune of 175,000 acres or 36 million trees a year. That represents a loss of $96 million in tree benefits a year, and those benefits, like heat reduction and public health improvements, are growing in necessity.

“By knowing the amount of and direction in which urban tree cover is moving, urban forest management plans can be developed to provide desired levels of urban tree cover and forest benefits for current and future generations.” (source)

Every Quantifiable Goal Needs a Baseline

Before setting a tree canopy cover goal, the current coverage must be understood via an Urban Tree Canopy assessment. There are multiple methods for completing a UTC assessment that vary in scope and output, such as point sampling and high-resolution land cover mapping.

An Urban Tree Canopy Assessment will quantify the extent or footprint of the urban forest, most commonly expressed as the percentage of a defined area. Depending on the assessment method, a UTC Assessment will also offer additional geospatial information, including other land cover percentages and possible planting areas (PPA).

Factors That Influence Urban Tree Canopy Goals

After you know what you have to work with, there is a wide variety of factors that are useful in setting an effective canopy goal. There is not one optimal percentage for urban tree canopy cover, but instead, each community must weigh the desired benefits against the costs of planting and maintaining the increase in canopy.

Local Challenges

What are issues in the community that can be positively influenced by increased urban tree canopy? This question should always be at the heart of setting a coverage goal, as it is the very purpose for the goal itself. Working backward from the desired outcomes of increased UTC will ensure the coverage goal is targeted on what matters most, be it lower downtown temperatures or improved access to greenspace.

Understanding the most pressing local issues is best done by supporting a UTC assessment with the engagement of a multitude of stakeholders. When Tacoma, Washington set its urban canopy growth goal of 30% by 2030, it supported the planning process with a robust research phase that included online surveys and public meetings to better understand community needs and interests.

Selecting A Percent Canopy Cover Goal

There are admittedly a ton of components to consider when setting a canopy cover goal. Luckily there are decision support tools that can simplify this process, such as TreePlotter™ CANOPY.

CANOPY integrates the information gathered from UTC assessments and tree inventories and creates easy-to-use visualizations of canopy distribution and planting space. CANOPY also includes functions that show how new plantings will address environmental or socioeconomic issues and test different planting scenarios.

Will it take 1,000 or 10,000 trees to make meaningful progress on the top municipal issues? Testing out different planting hypotheses with software can be a tremendous help in setting an evidence-based canopy cover goal. Through assumptions, a municipality can narrow down to a percent canopy cover that represents an aspirational but manageable amount of new plantings.

A Canopy Cover Goal Is Just The Beginning

Establishing a canopy cover goal is usually the beginning of the process to define and adopt an official planting strategy that will be included in an urban forest management plan. It is a crucial first step though, and a tree canopy goal is a powerful tool. It helps prioritize forest management actions, motivate the public and officials, and inspire funding and stewardship.

“Tree planting should be methodically planned with a specific purpose in mind. The first step in developing a planting strategy is to define the goals.”

 

–Chris Pieffer, Director of Urban Forestry Consulting Services, PlanIT GEO

PlanIT Geo has TreePlotter™ Software Suite, purpose-built to make processes like setting urban canopy cover goals easier. We also have experts on hand to guide communities through understanding their urban forest in terms of what they have, what they want, and how to get there.

Supporting Urban Forests Around the World

PlanIT Geo specializes in supporting urban forest management with holistic solutions, including urban tree canopy assessments, management plans, tree inventories, and software that best serve your community’s needs and goals.