PURPOSE OF THIS URBAN TREE CANOPY ASSESSMENT

The City of Wichita is located within Sedgwick County, Kansas. It is approximately 164 square miles or 105,211 acres of which 101,534 are land acres. Wichita has placed a high priority on ensuring the long-term health of its urban forest resource, and this assessment demonstrates their commitment to protecting, maintaining, and expanding the city’s tree canopy. The primary goal of this assessment was to provide a baseline and benchmark of the City’s tree canopy and interpret the results across a range of geographic boundaries.

URBAN TREE CANOPY IN WICHITA

Results of this study indicated that in 2017, the city of Wichita contained 22 percent urban tree canopy (or 22,994 of the city’s 105,211 total acres); 39 percent noncanopy vegetation (41,390 acres); 4 percent soil/dry vegetation (3,729 acres); 32 percent impervious (33,421 acres); and 3 percent water (3,677 acres). Of the city’s 78 percent of land area not presently occupied by tree canopy, 45 percent (45,367 acres) was suitable for future tree plantings, and 33 percent (33,173 acres) was unsuitable due to its current land use or other restraint. In further dividing the city’s urban tree canopy, 88 percent was overhanging pervious surfaces and 12 percent of all canopy was overhanging impervious surfaces.

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