Why Chicago's shrinking tree canopy hurts communities
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Chicago has been losing tree canopy cover that helps reduce the impacts of extreme heat and air pollution.
Why it matters: Urban tree canopy improves air quality by removing harmful gasses from the air and storing CO2, according to a recent report from environmental information newsroom Climate Central.
- It also absorbs stormwater, decreases flood risk and creates connections to nature that improve physical and mental health.
By the numbers: Chicago's tree canopy cover shrank in the city proper from 2010 to 2020. Trees covered just 16% of the city's land in 2020, trailing behind New York and Los Angeles, per the Morton Arboretum.
- While canopy cover decreased, the tree population in the greater Chicago area grew from 157 million in 2010 to 172 million, according to the arboretum.
State of play: On average, each year Chicago has lost about 10,000 more trees than it has planted since 2010, per a 2020 analysis by the Sun-Times. The decrease was mostly driven by pests and disease.
- To combat the losses, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot pledged last year to plant 15,000 new trees annually. But her rush to get it done in cold, non-ideal planting weather last December left some worrying the execution would stifle root growth.
- Earlier this year, Lightfoot installed the city's new Urban Forestry Advisory Board.
What they're saying: "Mayor Lightfoot did try to improve the situation with the initiative of planting thousands of trees each year, but we're still struggling," Tonatiu Rodriguez, a coordinator for the Openlands Forestry Program, tells Axios.
- "We're still at that point where we're losing more trees to disease and just age than what we're putting in the ground."
The intrigue: Last spring, Openlands partnered with green search engine Ecosia and the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council to start the "Truffula Club" at Kelly High School on the Southwest Side.
- "The first year, the Kelly High School students did door-to-door knocking in the neighborhood around their school campus. And they were able to get people on board and excited about planting trees," Rodriguez said.
- This year, the club members finished their third round of planting.
What you can do: Chicagoans can join groups like Openlands to become "treekeepers" — stewards who plant, nurture and protect local trees.
- Openlands is working to create connections between treekeepers and alderpeople, "so they know they have somebody in their ward that's knowledgeable about trees that can help guide them and hopefully make the right decisions when it comes to managing the trees," Rodriguez said.