[CANUFNET] Cities that successfully increased tree canopy?

[Jeremy Cantor]

Grace,

As Ian said last week, we have seen a number of communities achieve a gain
in canopy in time spans ranging from 5 to 15 years:

   - Washington, D.C.: +.9%
   - Snoqualmie, Washington: +2.4%
   - Colorado Springs, CO: +2.7%
   - Dallas, Texas: +3%
   - Mississauga, Ontario: +4.2%
   - Salem, Oregon: +5.3%
   - Shoreline, Washington: +6.4%
   - Windsor, Ontario: +7%
   - Mercer Island, Washington: +7.8%
   - Woodinville, Washington: +8.7%

Many of these are either in locations/climates that are prime for tree
growth or are prairie developments where new housing adds trees that were
never there. In many other cities, especially in eastern North America,
growth in cities often involves clearing trees and declines in canopy
cover. Washington, D.C. is a great example of canopy growth due to
extensive local planning and planting efforts.

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Jeremy Cantor

Director

Geospatial Services


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On Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 9:15 AM Ian Hanou <ianhanou at planitgeo.com> wrote:

> Great question Grace. We've led 25-30 projects involving canopy cover
> change analysis. Projects tend to use imagery collected 5 to 10yrs apart
> between acquisition dates. Our study for Mississauga is the first one that
> comes to mind. They expected a loss in canopy due to EAB and the 2013 (?)
> ice storm, but had a 3-4% gain b/w 2007 and 2014. We used satellite imagery
> and object-based imaging (remote sensing) including a rigorous accuracy
> assessment protocol, and then secondarily used i-Tree Canopy to 1% SE or
> better. This approach validated the change (i.e. increase / gain) by using
> both methods by getting results within .5-1% of each other.
>
> Another factor of course is location and climate. I'm based in Denver
> where development generally adds canopy cover over time b/c it was
> naturally prairie before, similar to Calgary and Saskatoon. When we
> analyzed Milwaukee canopy cover on a study in 2015 working w/Dr. Rich
> Hauer, we used imagery from every decade starting in 1956 to present time
> and showed a gain in canopy (except when DED hit) b/c it was so agrarian
> before and canopy was quite low in the 1950's there.
>
> We've certainly had other projects in temperate climates result in
> moderate canopy increases ... Washington D.C., Kirkland, Washington, Salem,
> Oregon, etc. Loss is easier to detect whereas gains are more subtle,
> especially with shorter periods of time b/w assessments. I don't recall our
> results off-hand for a 2nd canopy study with Cambridge, Ontario last year
> but have cc'd Jeremy who can respond to that and possibly provide others.
> Jeremy is also working with Urban Forest Innovations on a study with
> Windsor, Ontario which includes canopy cover change so those results will
> be available in 2020.
>
> This presentation
> <https://www.trees.org.uk/Trees.org.uk/media/Trees-org.uk/Documents/Conference19/MonAM-2-Cecil-Konijnendijk.pdf>
> from Cecil Konijnendijk might be useful as well.
>
> Last note, at the 2018 Canadian UF Conference / IUFC we presented a poster
> on canopy change analysis (called "Liar, Liar, Your Maps on Fire"). I'd be
> happy to dig up and send it to you.
>
> Happy to discuss further anytime -
> Ian
>
> On Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 7:16 AM Grace Golightly via CANUFNET <
> canufnet at list.web.net> wrote:
>
>> Do you know of any cities (anywhere) that have managed to increase their
>> tree canopy?
>>
>> I understand that Oakville, ON has, and perhaps Melbourne, Australia.
>>
>> Do you know of any others? I would appreciate hearing about them.
>>
>> Many thanks,
>> Grace Golightly
>>
>
>
> --
>
>
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> Ian Hanou
>
> CEO and Founder
>
>
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>
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>
>
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>
>
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