Philadelphia's new "Tree Canopy Assessment" both records the damage of the past decade and makes the case for a new path forward when in comes to prioritizing the city's tree canopy.
"Philadelphia has lost the equivalent of over 1,000 football fields worth of tree cover over the last decade," reports Catalina Jaramillo, sharing the findings of a report released earlier this month by the city of Philadelphia.
According to the city's "Tree Canopy Assessment" [pdf], published with help from the University of Vermont Spatial Analysis Lab, TreePennsylvania, and the Gund Institute for Environment, trees offer a "plethora of ecoystems services," but the city's tree canopy has declined over the course of the last decade, led mostly by losses on residential land.
In response, "[Philadelphia] officials kicked off a first-ever ‘urban forest’ strategic planning process last week," according to Jaramillo. "The reduction in tree cover discovered by researchers will lay the groundwork for the 10-year plan to dramatically increase the city’s leafy cover."
Read the full story: Philly neighborhoods need more trees. A new city initiative takes on the problem.
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