What’s Growing on with Reforest Our City

The Reforest Our City Program is seeing significant growth. First and foremost, our trees are growing — so much so that some are starting to cast significant shade and provide the ecosystem the service we were looking for. For example, at Zone Recreation Center, our trees have grown enough in the 3 years since they’ve been planted to show up in the Cuyahoga County Tree Canopy Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) imaging. This LIDAR imaging is a laser generated arial map showing the leaf area coverage over land in the county and is the primary tool planners use to assess our urban forests health. A few of our other large sites are also seeing substantial growth, including East Prep and Village Prep in Woodland Hills, Jack Rabbit Hill in Union Miles, and Citizens Leadership Acadamy East in St. Clair/Superior. All these sites have at least 20 trees, but some have up to 86 trees that were planted at least 3 years ago, meaning their canopy has enough growth to create an impact on the surrounding environment.

Our tree care program is growing with the trees; we’ve invested significantly in maintenance and watering since 2019, and the results are clear.  So far this year, we have performed 878 site visits across 84 different sites. During these site visits, the team will water, prune, and monitor trees for distress, replace dead trees, and pick up any trash on the site. Watering the trees takes up most of the team’s focus during the summer, as we water trees for three years after they are planted to ensure the best chance of survival. The team has used approximately 84,000 gallons of water on our trees so far this year. That is double the amount of water we used last year, because the number of trees we have planted has continued to increase each year.

The database of information on our trees is also growing and includes data on tree care interventions and tree site conditions. When tree information is gathered, it is uploaded into ArcGIS as data points that show the current status of the tree, as well as its historical information and any progress pictures.  With this information, we are able to plot out exactly where our current trees are and determine what benefits they are giving the local area. We recently started tracking the temperature around our trees in comparison to the surrounding spaces so that we can see the impact they are making on reducing Cleveland’s heat island effect. Tracking this data allows us to make evidence-based decisions about which trees we plant and where we plant them so we can continue to contribute to local urban forestry research.

Our staff is growing, both in size and training, as we take advantage of professional development opportunities to continue becoming trusted regional experts in the field. Earlier this year, Devon Range became a certified Arborist through ISA and both Tom Schrieber and Devon received their Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (TRAQ). Devon has also stepped into a newly created role, Community Forester. He is able to leverage his arborist training to focus on putting the right trees in the right places in Cleveland neighborhoods, ensuring that we are using the industry’s best practices for siting and site prep, species selection, and stock sourcing. We have also filled our Community Forestry Coordinator role with Jen Giles, who will continue to grow and improve our volunteer program by training new Tree Stewards in the best practices in urban forestry.

Lastly, our reputation is growing both in our communities and with our partners. This has led to several large grants, including ones from Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) and Save Our Great Lakes, as well as significant donations from private funders. We have also had some new opportunities with local organizations like the Student Conservation Association and many private landowners.  We are earning trust in our program by combining excellent tree care with outreach and relationship building within Cleveland, as well as nationally. We are confident this trust will drive more growth in the future.