Growing Our Tree Canopy Cover From 19% to 30% by 2030
In 2010, the City Council adopted a new chapter in Tacoma's Comprehensive Plan - the Urban Forestry Policy Element (UFP). This chapter houses the vision for Tacoma to enhance urban forest resources, including increasing the tree canopy cover from approximately 19 percent in 2009 to 30 percent in 2030. The UFP also provides guidance on urban forest management goals such as:
- Creating a citizen advisory board;
- Increasing education and outreach;
- Clarifying ownership and maintenance responsibilities of right-of-way trees;
- Maintaining public safety;
- Addressing diverse land uses;
- Building and supporting partnerships;
- Increasing the sustainability and health of our urban forest through species and age diversity, invasive species removal, creation of Heritage tree program;
- Establishing planting priorities;
- Coordinating planning and design of public infrastructure to include trees, both new and preservation of existing trees; and
- Supporting urban agriculture such as through community gardens and orchards.
Read the UFP (PDF)
Canopy Cover
In the summer of 2011, the University of Washington's Remote Sensing & Geospatial Analysis Laboratory completed an analysis of 2009 data (aerial photos and LIDAR), with funding support provided by the Washington's Department of Natural Resources Urban and Community Forestry Program, to provide Tacoma with an updated approximation of our tree canopy cover.
Tacoma's Canopy Cover
|
Trees
|
19%
|
|
Ground Impervious
|
13.6%
|
|
Water
|
0.2%
|
|
Roads
|
10.7%
|
|
Bare Ground
|
.01%
|
|
Buildings
|
12.7%
|
|
Sidewalks
|
0.7%
|
|
Paved Driveways
|
8.3%
|
|
Unpaved Driveways
|
.13%
|
|
Irrigated grass/shrub
|
9.4%
|
|
Non-irrigated grass/shrub
|
25%
|
Tacoma's Canopy Cover by Land Use and Goals
Obviously there are parts of Tacoma that can grow more trees and there are parts that can grow less due to development. In order to break the city-wide goal down into more manageable goals, we completed further analysis. Using the data from above and Tacoma's existing zoning and current land uses, we've devised the following goals for canopy cover by land use.
| Commercial/Mixed-Use |
7.3% |
3.7% |
15% |
| Downtown |
1% |
3.1% |
15% |
| Developed Park |
3.9% |
28.7% |
35% |
| Major Institution |
6.1% |
6.8% |
25% |
| Multi-Family Residential |
4.4% |
19% |
25% |
| Manufacturing/Industrial |
11.4% |
3.7% |
10% |
| Parks Natural Areas |
8.5% |
74.6% |
80% |
| Single Family Residential |
31.4% |
23% |
30% |
| Right-of-way/non-parceled areas |
28% |
9.2% |
30% |
Canopy Cover by Neighborhood Business District - Commercial/Mixed-Use
In order to assist us with achieving our goals, particularly in our Neighborhood Business Districts (NBD) which were identified as priority planting areas by the
Urban Forest Policy Element, we further analyzed our canopy cover data to give us approximations of the canopy cover in each NBD to determine what amount of growth is needed in each district. The table below shows canopy cover by NBD in both actual and needed cover for the entire NBD and for the rights-of-way (ROW) within each Neighborhood Business District. You may also be interested in our
Strategic Urban Forest Management Plan (SUFMP) for Neighborhood Business Districts.
| Portland Avenue |
42.2% |
2.4% |
12.6% |
0% |
30% |
| South Tacoma |
39.7% |
0% |
15% |
0% |
30% |
| Stadium |
49.6% |
4.9% |
10.1% |
4.5% |
25.5% |
| 6th Ave |
41.3% |
2.1% |
12.9% |
2.3% |
27.7% |
| Proctor |
41.2% |
4% |
11% |
7.3% |
22.7% |
| Oakland/Madrona |
41.3% |
7.1% |
7.9% |
0.2% |
29.8% |
| Fern Hill |
34.4% |
7.3% |
7.7% |
2.8% |
27.2% |
| Lincoln |
37.7% |
0% |
15% |
0% |
30% |
| McKinley |
48.1% |
1.1% |
13.9% |
1.2% |
28.8% |
| Narrows |
43.9% |
3.3% |
11.7% |
2.7% |
27.3% |
| Dome |
36.1% |
1.9% |
13.1% |
1.8% |
28.2% |
| Hilltop |
43% |
0.9% |
14.1% |
1.1% |
28.9% |
| Ruston/Pt. Defiance |
41.2% |
2.6% |
12.4% |
0% |
30% |
| Old Town |
44.8% |
2.8% |
12.2% |
1.2% |
28.8% |
| Pacific |
40.7% |
3.4% |
11.6% |
0.9% |
29.1% |
How can you help? Help us grow, get involved.