NYC will add nearly 10,000 acres of ‘urban forest’ by 2040

As summers grow ever hotter, New York City has unveiled its newest strategy for fighting climate change and cooling down the city: the city’s first Urban Forest Plan, which lays out a strategy to preserve trees, plant more trees throughout the boroughs and expand the team who cares for them. 

The plan aims to add 700 acres of trees to New York City every year for the next 14 years, with the goal of increasing New York City’s canopy tree coverage from 23.4% to 30% by 2040, Gabriele Holtermann writes for Brooklyn Paper. 

Living in a tree-lined city brings numerous benefits for its residents: they cool streets by up to two degrees Fahrenheit, improve air quality, better residents mental health and even decrease heat-related illnesses and deaths. The trees currently covering New York City are already removing 1,100 tons of air pollution per year and reducing stormwater runoff by 69 million cubic feet.

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