Cleveland is really bad at planting trees
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Urban Forestry is now a standalone division within Cleveland's new Department of Parks and Recreation, and city leaders are eager to revive the local tree canopy.
Why it matters: Trees reduce carbon emissions, support biodiversity, absorb rainwater and offer relief from extreme heat.
State of play: Cleveland is terrible at planting trees. The city's 18% tree canopy continues to decline, despite an ambitious goal to grow it to 30% by 2040.
Stunning stat: The city planted only 62 trees last year, according to the 2025 mayor's budget estimate, while pruning 2,300 trees and removing 1,500 others.
- In 2023, Cleveland removed 1,300 trees and planted just 15.
Yes, but: Jennifer Kipp, the city's urban forestry manager, tells Axios in an email that Cleveland uses a "partnership approach" to growing the tree canopy.
- "The divisional operations focus on tree maintenance while partnership organizations help grow our tree canopy. In 2024, our partners planted 1,572 trees in Cleveland!"
Zoom in: Jenny Spencer, city council's representative on the Urban Forestry Commission, admitted at a Monday budget hearing that Cleveland had "not done well" at tree planting, and said improvement would require associated maintenance contracts.
- "New trees are literally babies, and they need a lot of babying," Spencer said. "They need mulching, a ton of watering, staking, re-staking, and they eventually need young tree training."
- Citing experts, Spencer recommended 3- to 5-year maintenance contracts for newly planted trees, and characterized these as a "very rich challenge" if Cleveland wanted to "get back into the tree-planting game."
The big picture: $2 million of the division's $6 million total budget this year will go toward contracts for pruning and stump grinding, the largest such figure in years.
- That funding is "absolutely essential," Spencer said, to helping Cleveland play catch-up on more than 3,500 outstanding pruning work orders.
Plus: A $3.4 million federal grant last year for Cleveland's tree canopy could likewise assist with maintenance and new plantings.
What's next: The new division expects to finalize a job posting for a commissioner this week and make a hire before summer.