The City of Orlando is trying to increase its tree canopy by 40% by the year 2040, and that goal was just made much more attainable with a recent $1 million grant from the U.S. Forest Service Urban and Community Forest program.
The grant will be used to plant trees, develop green jobs, and mitigate damage from natural disasters in disadvantaged communities. In 2022, the city’s Families, Parks, and Recreation Department carried out a detailed study of the current tree canopy and discovered that there was a “significant gap in tree canopy coverage when comparing Orlando’s low-to-moderate-income neighborhoods with middle-to-upper income ones.
We covered the issue HERE in June 2021 and included a map from the nonprofit American Forests, which created a Tree Equity Score map for cities across the country. Scroll down to see a map of the Orlando area.
As a result of their findings, the city already piloted a Tree Equity Initiative in Carver Shores and Richmond Heights, which had significantly less canopy than other neighborhoods in town. As a result, they were able to partner with local community groups and centers and plant several hundred trees.
The Tree Equity Initiative is now being scaled up to include more neighborhoods to help reach the 2040 goal that much faster.
The grant will also allegedly cover the cost of tree care for low-income families to prevent damage to their homes from trees during storms/hurricanes.
It would help if they quit cutting down the trees we have.