Fall is in the air. Some people embrace the cooler weather and change of season, others lament the loss of summer, but it seems that everyone enjoys the changing leaves. Yet Cuyahoga County continues to lose tree canopy and residents do not have equal access to the benefits of trees in their neighborhoods.
Tree canopy supports environmental, health, and economic benefits
Tree canopy is the layer of leaves, branches, and stems of trees that cover the ground when viewed from above. As shared in the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission Urban Tree Canopy Assessment Update, “Tree canopy provides many benefits to society including moderating climate, reducing building energy use and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), improving air and water quality, mitigating rainfall runoff and flooding, enhancing human health and social well-being and lowering noise impacts (Nowak and Dwyer, 2007). It provides wildlife habitat, enhances property values, and has aesthetic impacts to an environment.”
The tree canopy is a benefit to residents. We included it in the recently released Cleveland Neighborhood and County District Fact Sheets in an effort to report assets within localities.
Cuyahoga County lost 6,600 acres of tree canopy.
Cuyahoga County’s tree canopy is shrinking
The Cuyahoga County Planning Commission published a countywide study of the tree canopy in 2013, which used data measured in 2011. At that time, 37.0% of the county was covered by tree canopy. In 2019, the Planning Commission published an update to the report with data measured in 2017. Between the two reports, the Cuyahoga County lost 6,600 acres of tree canopy resulting in tree canopy covering 34.7% of the county. Cleveland’s tree canopy fell from 19.2% to 17.9% in the same period. Even the Cleveland Metroparks Reservations showed a tree canopy decline of nearly 6%, largely due to the emerald ash borer infestation.
In Cleveland neighborhoods, the tree canopy ranges from a low of 4.2% Downtown to a high of 35.5% in Euclid-Green. Edgewater, Detroit-Shoreway, and University lost the highest percentage of tree canopy between 2011 and 2017. Downtown and Cuyahoga Valley were the only neighborhoods to gain tree canopy between 2011 and 2017, yet they remain the two neighborhoods with the lowest percentage of tree canopy.
Improving the tree canopy over the next two decades
Several groups in the community are working to improve the tree canopy. At the county level, the Healthy Urban Tree Canopy Grant is an initiative to promote a healthy tree canopy in the county with grant funds for tree planting and maintenance projects. This competitive grant program is coordinated by the Cuyahoga County Department of Sustainability, the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission, and the Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District, with assistance from the Cuyahoga County Board of Health.
In 2018, the City of Cleveland and the Cleveland Tree Coalition set a goal of 30% tree canopy by 2040.
In 2018, the City of Cleveland and the Cleveland Tree Coalition set a goal of 30% tree canopy by 2040. The Cleveland Tree Coalition is a collaborative group of public, private, and community stakeholders that have partnered with the City of Cleveland to rebuild the urban forest. The coalition is striving to create a healthy, vibrant, sustainable, and equitable urban forest by working collaboratively to implement the Cleveland Tree Plan.
Environmental justice and a healthy tree canopy
Neighborhoods in Cleveland with the lowest tree canopy coverage are also the neighborhoods with the highest rates of redlining and vulnerable populations. Both Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland’s efforts recognize this disparity and are prioritizing maintaining and planting trees in these communities.
The Western Reserve Land Conservancy, which chairs the Cleveland Tree Coalition, identified the following neighborhoods for prioritization in its Reforest Our City initiative: Slavic Village, Mount Pleasant, Union-Miles, Buckeye-Shaker, Buckeye-Woodhill, Detroit Shoreway, and Cudell. Their interactive map shows the relationship between historic redlining, race, tree canopy coverage, and health disparities in strokes, asthma, obesity, diabetes, physical inactivity, and frequent mental health distress.
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is today.
An old Chinese proverb insists that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is today. This wisdom applies figuratively to implementing solutions to the many health, social, and economic challenges of today. It applies literally to restoring the tree canopy and the many benefits residents will derive. Growing Cuyahoga County and Cleveland’s tree canopy with an emphasis on historically disinvested neighborhoods is also one step towards righting historic wrongs.
