Grassroots Greening: Saving Cleveland's Tree Canopy

Welcome back! After a long hiatus, I’ve decided to bring back the blog with this post on urban tree canopies in Cuyahoga County. I intend to start publishing posts on a regular basis again, but the cadence is still undecided. Further updates will be provided in the next post. 

Ever since the Sustainable Cleveland initiative (now the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability) was first launched in 2009, improving the tree canopy has been a major focus for many in both local government and the community development space. While the organization was, and still is, primarily focused on mitigating climate change, working to improve the tree canopy in the “Forest City” has also been an important touchpoint in recent years.

Tree canopy by census tract in Cuyahoga County, 2019. Cleveland is outlined in black. Source: Cuyahoga County Planning Commission

We’ve long known of the immense disparities in tree canopy coverage between Cleveland proper and the suburbs, ones that contribute to social determinants of health and myriad other inequities within Cuyahoga County. This is a pressing issue; according to the Cleveland Tree Coalition, the city’s tree canopy is currently sitting at 18% - and continues to decline. Much of this decline has been related to poor maintenance of trees, in addition to removal for development and various other reasons. The City’s goal for the year 2040 is 30% canopy coverage - a lofty goal that will not be possible to achieve without the dedication of multiple organizations working in tandem to solve the issue. Moving forward, this more collaborative approach to the issue will be needed in order to achieve the desired outcomes as determined by the targets set by said organizations. 

In terms of positive movements in the space of urban tree canopy work, the Cleveland Tree Coalition was created in 2022 as a spin-off organization of the Western Reserve Land Conservancy. Additionally, the City revived and reworked its Urban Forestry Commission in 2023. Cuyahoga County Planning Commission and its Healthy Urban Tree Canopy (HUTC) grant have helped communities pay for tree plantings and other related expenses. This program, along with grants from the Cleveland Tree Coalition, have been crucial in facilitating tree work in communities across Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. 

Community development corporations, such as Slavic Village Development, Old Brooklyn CDC, and MidTown Cleveland, have been pioneers in the work of neighborhood-level tree work. Many of them have their own tree steward or green team programs charged with maintaining trees and other green spaces in their neighborhoods. This type of work has proven popular in many of the dominantly working-class and formerly industrial neighborhoods of Cleveland, explaining why these efforts have been so crucial in places like Slavic Village and Old Brooklyn. Many of these organizations have completed tree plans in the last 5 years or so, providing actionable steps to reforest areas in need. It would be wise, in my opinion, if more neighborhood-based organizations complete plans of their own in the coming years, for the sake of having prescriptive next steps in improving the tree canopy. 

Resident involvement in neighborhood tree programs has allowed organizations to increase capacity for plantings and maintenance. Source: Western Reserve Land Conservancy

The City of Cleveland has partnered with many of these community organizations to help make important projects materialize that will help with reforesting. In particular, this includes projects undertaken by the Mayor’s Office of Capital Projects that will see the removal of excess sidewalk pavement along main corridors in the spirit of the city’s Complete and Green Streets policy. 

In addition to work surrounding tree canopy and urban forestry, the Office of Sustainability also released an updated Climate Action Plan in 2024. This document is intended to guide sustainability work and goals in Cleveland through the end of 2029. The plan contains 16 goals across 6 focus areas, with the aim of providing a holistic view of how to mitigate the impacts of climate change on a local level. 

In terms of goals relating to tree canopy and access to nature, there are a few that are outlined in the Climate Action Plan. One of the most applicable of these goals is that all residents will live within a 10-minute walk of a robust green space by 2045. This is quite a lofty and noble goal, considering that there are many neighborhoods currently where access to greenspace is extremely limited. Based on language within the plan, it appears that a large area of impact within this realm is the identification of vacant lots currently in the possession of the land bank which could be used for tree plantings to increase the canopy. 

How realistic and achievable are these targets? It is difficult for me to say, as someone who’s not very knowledgeable on the topic of climate change. However, one thing is clear - it is immensely important that progress be made on these targets in the coming decades. 

In summary, both the goals of the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County for the increase in tree canopy coverage are crucial indicators of environmental improvement that should be met at all costs. In conjunction with the City’s Climate Action Plan, these goals will advance environmental quality and health for residents of the region, as well as protect our status as a resilient climate-friendly city.