The city of Cleveland is breathing new life into its Forest City nickname by pledging $10 million over the next decade to replace its depleted tree coverage. For its part though, Cuyahoga County is already one step ahead in efforts to reforest the region, recently awarding 26 grants in the first year of its Healthy Urban Tree Canopy Grant Program. We caught up with Mike Foley, director of the county’s Department of Sustainability, to learn more about how the county is putting trees in the ground and building a better canopy here in Northeast Ohio.
Why is the tree canopy important?
Trees help cool on hot days and reduce energy costs. The more tree coverage you have, the more shade over houses and the less need for air conditioning. It also cools neighborhoods in terms of ground-level ozone, which is an asthma trigger. Cleveland, especially, is one of the highest asthma communities in the nation.
How are these grants being used?
A lot of first-year grants are for developing a plan for the future. For example, we gave a planning grant to Parma because they were really upfront saying that they don’t have a tree commission and needed help figuring out what to do. They got $50,000 to help start putting together a plan.
Have any communities started planting trees?
We want to get trees in the ground and Brooklyn and Bedford have already started planting. We’re also impressed with Lakewood because they’re already spending a lot on trees and [the grants] will help supplement their work. In all, we hope for somewhere between 1,300 and 1,500 trees to be planted [by spring 2020].
Bringing The Forest Back to The Forest City
Cuyahoga County is helping cities plant new trees with a grant program aimed at increasing the canopy.
