PROJECT UPDATES 

Update 4/27/21
Columbus’ First Urban Forestry Master Plan is Official.  We are pleased to announce that Columbus’ first Urban Forestry Master Plan has been finalized and approved by City leadership!   The Columbus Recreation and Parks Commission voted unanimously to support the Urban Forestry Master Plan on April 14, 2021. All seven City Council members sponsored resolution 0072X-2021 to support the immediate implementation of the Urban Forestry Master Plan, and it passed unanimously on April 26, 2021. With the support of the Mayor’s Office, City Council and the Recreation and Parks Commission, the Urban Forestry Master Plan is finalized. We are now starting the implementation phase.  Access the full plan here.
Update 4/1/21
Public Comment Period Closed.  The public comment period for the UFMP drafts closed yesterday, after 6 weeks of open comment period.   Edits are being made now and the final plan documents will be available very soon.  Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback!
Update 3/24/21
Columbus Council Hearing on Urban Forest Master Plan.  Columbus City Council Hearing on the UFMP took place today from 4-5:30 p.m.  Access to recorded session is available on the City's YouTube Channel here (presentation is minutes 10 to 18).    The Master Plan is still open for public comment until March 31st - view and comment here.  
Update 3/9/21
Interested in learning more about the Urban Forestry Master Plan?  Join us for the Columbus City Council Hearing on Wednesday, March 24, from 4-5:30 p.m.  Watch live (or recorded afterward) on the City of Columbus YouTube channel or the City Council Facebook page.  Anyone interested in speaking at the meeting (all comments will be limited to three minutes of remarks per person) should email James Carmean at JWCarmean@columbus.gov by Tuesday, March 23rd.
Update 2/17/21
Master Plan Drafted and Ready for Review.  We are pleased to announce that the Urban Forestry Master Plan draft is ready for public review!  The public comment period will be held from Tuesday, Feb. 16, and is expected to last through Wednesday, March 31.   Download the full plan draft and be sure to submit any comments or questions that you may have.  
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​​Frequently Asked Questions.  Frequently asked questions about the plan, the process, and what’s next can be found here.
Update 11/25/20
Thank you for your support of the Urban Forestry Master Plan! We wanted to share some updates with you.

Master Plan Drafted.  We continue to work on this document and will share it for public feedback in the next few months. Stay tuned, we are looking forward to you learning more about our City’s first-ever Urban Forestry Master Plan!

Street Tree Inventories.  Columbus’ public tree inventory is outdated, and updating this data is a key initiative of the Urban Forestry Master Plan. Updated data on street trees will empower our department’s forestry team to manage our urban forest more effectively. Our pilot street tree inventory in the South Linden neighborhood identified the health, species and size of existing trees, as well as spaces to plant new trees. More than 500 street trees were planted this fall, using the spaces identified in the inventory!

Columbus Recreation and Parks Department is starting a new round of street tree inventories this winter using federal grant funds. The inventories will focus on five more priority neighborhoods: Far South, Milo-Grogan, North Central, South Side and Southwest. These neighborhoods were chosen in part because they have low canopy and high need.

Educational Tree Videos Now Available.  A key theme we heard from the public was that more education is needed to encourage tree planting and preservation across the community. Columbus Recreation and Parks Department worked with GreenSpot Columbus to produce two educational videos. One video demonstrates how to plant trees to increase our City’s urban tree canopy, and the other teaches people how to prune their trees correctly. Please watch these brand-new videos and share them with your networks! Below is the information on each video, along with the links to watch them.
  • How to Plant a Tree.  South Linden Area Commissioner Peggy Williams planted a tree in her front yard. Learn why she did and how you can plant a tree so it thrives!​
  • Young Tree Structural Pruning. Did you know that pruning a young tree will help keep the tree healthy over its lifetime? Pruning a young tree is really important. Watch this video for more tips from our department’s arborist on how to prune a tree!
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In the NEWS

April 6, 2021 | This Week Community News
City of Columbus: Urban-forestry master plan calls for increasing tree canopy 40%
Tree canopy goal announced in new Urban Forestry Master Plan.  Read the full article.  

March 19, 2021 | The Ohio Environmental Council 
Columbus Canopy - How Do Trees Support Equity, Climate, & Health?
Watch a recorded Q&A session between Rosalie Hendon, the UFMP project manager, and Nathan Johnson, public lands director of the Ohio Environmental Council.  
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March 7, 2021 | WBNS-10TV
Residents can weigh in on Columbus' first-ever Urban Forestry Master Plan
Columbus is lagging behind its peer cities when it comes to the canopy cover of trees. And city leaders want to change that.​  Read the full article.

February 25, 2021 | Columbus Underground
Columbus Reveals Urban Forestry Plan
Columbus just released the draft of its first ever Urban Forestry Master Plan for public comment (open through the end of March).  Read more about this plan, highlights and major findings. 

August 24, 2020 | New York Times
​How Decades of Racist Housing Policy Left Neighborhoods Sweltering
A visual "story map" by the NY Times showing the higher heat  stresses and less trees in poor neighborhoods exists today from decades of redlining in housing policy. Read more.

​May 6, 2020 | The Straits Times
Cities step up bid for green pandemic recovery
​Mayors from Seoul to Seattle are stepping up plans to make their cities greener and healthier as part of a global strategy to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and fight climate change at the same time. Read more.

​March 4, 2020 | Columbus Underground
Urban Forestry Plan Needs Public Input
Columbusites [were] encouraged to visit Wyandot Lodge between 6 and 8 p.m. to offer input on the city’s plan to reduce air pollution, stormwater damage and the urban heat island effect through the long-term tree canopy planning in  Columbus. Read more.

February 22, 2020 | ThisWeek Community News
​Columbus' urban forestry master plan taking root
​When it comes to the city’s tree canopy, Columbus Recreation and Parks Department officials said there is nowhere to go but up -- and out.  Read more.  
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THANK YOU to all who
​GAVE THEIR INPUT online and at the let's talk trees public open house!  


​A key piece of the Columbus Urban Forestry Master Plan (UFMP) process began in December 2019: a public outreach campaign to engage Columbus residents in the future of the city’s urban forest.   The goals were to learn about the public’s priorities related to tree canopy, as well as current challenges in Columbus and potential solutions.

The public gave input on the Columbus UFMP in five different ways: 1) a public open house, 2) an online comment form, 3)  small-group presentations, 4) individual interviews with stakeholders, and 5) guidance from two stakeholder groups.   Information on each of these avenues follow. 

Highlights of findings from all public input can be found below, or you can download the full public engagement summary report here.

Recurring Themes

Comments and input received from the public fell largely into the following most prevalent themes.  More detail can be found on the PDF report above.  
  1. We are not where we should be.
    Many commented on how far behind the City is in tree canopy cover, that we should have started this decades ago, and how important this is to maintain a livable city with healthy residents going forward. The overarching theme to these comments was that this should be a priority going forward.  

  2. Knowledge and awareness is lacking. 
    The most obvious consensus of the public comments expressed the lack of knowledge and awareness of the reasons trees are critical to cities.  There appears to be a general feeling of apathy among the majority of Columbus residents when it comes to trees. Many do not fully understand the economic, public health, and environmental benefits of trees, and may not even feel that trees are their responsibility to care for.   In addition, many residents (and even organizations), have little knowledge about how trees are actively managed in the city.    As such, stakeholders wanted to see education as a priority with future public engagement and marketing efforts.  Educating the public was cited as the most effective solution to the challenges presented above - not only in regards to the benefits of tree canopy in general, but also in terms of tree species, maintenance, and resources available. Residents would like to see this on an individual level, as a public marketing campaign, and as a part of the school system to educate youth.

  3. Better management is needed for existing trees.
    All parties agree that the current status quo regarding management of existing tree canopy is not working. While all want to see an increase in trees and better protection for them, they also want to see better management of what they currently have. This includes addressing the conflicts between City departments, each of which have their own priorities to fulfill, creating conflicts of interests in most projects.

  4. There are not enough tree protection measures in place currently.
    The general consensus from both stakeholders and residents is that there are not enough tree protection standards. Many hope the UFMP will kickstart the process to update the tree protection ordinance and make changes in multiple areas of city code to ensure new development standards that prioritize tree canopy, mandatory planting ratios, and tree removal permits.

  5. Focus on equity in next steps to improve Columbus tree canopy.
    The 2015 Urban Tree Canopy Assessment data shows that tree canopy in Columbus varies greatly by neighborhood, from 9% at the lowest to 41% in the areas with the most tree cover. This disparity means that not all residents have access to the benefits that trees provide.  Many in Columbus want to correct this inequity in canopy cover and further engage low-income areas that can benefit the most from tree canopy benefits.  Neighborhood disparity is a challenge, as there is a lack of resources in many lower-income or renter-dominated neighborhoods. Additionally, some residents are not physically able to care for trees.  There is also a concern that funds are not distributed equitably, as well as the fact that many maintenance costs fall on homeowners who may not afford the upkeep.

  6. Address the lack of resources and funding.
    Many respondents felt that there are not enough resources currently dedicated to tree canopy efforts across the city, showing an overall lack of priority for this effort city-wide.  

  7. Need updated data.
    Tree canopy cover in Columbus was last measured from 2013 aerial photos.  Concerns were raised on the use of old data when so much development has occurred in the subsequent years.  The city is using old tree inventory data as well.  The question was raised multiple times how we can manage what we don’t know about.

  8. Take steps to encourage tree planting and preservation
    Revitalizing the canopy will take more than just city efforts. It will require private property owners to support preservation, maintenance, and expansion of tree canopy.  The community cited a number of ways to encourage tree planting and care across the community--both on private and public property.  The most popular options for encouraging trees on private property included tree giveaways, assistance in maintenance and reductions in stormwater fees.  Changes in city policies and operations were also cited as a way to encourage trees, specifically providing leaf pick up, shifting responsibility for sidewalk damage to the city, improving general communication with the public, and providing options for planting on the private side of the sidewalk/right-of-way. 
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  9. Address challenges from rentals / landlords.
    The high number of rental properties in Columbus emerged repeatedly as a hurdle to growing tree canopy.  The general comment is that landlords would rather remove a tree (or not plant one at all) to save costs and hassles in the long run, and that renters are typically not invested in the neighborhood they are living in.  ​
    ​

the 5 Avenues of outreach

Avenue #1: “Let’s Talk Trees” Public Open House
March 4, 2020, 6-8pm at Wyandot Lodge
Total Attendees: 135 people
A public meeting was held on March 4 at the Wyandot Lodge with the goal of providing an educational and interactive way for the community to provide input on the challenges and solutions to increasing Columbus’ tree canopy. The meeting included a fifteen-minute presentation from consultant Urban Canopy Works on what tree canopy is and why it is important. There were also seven stations set up for residents to visit and provide input, which were staffed by City staff and UFMP Project Team members.   Stations asked attendees where they lived, where they wanted more trees, ideas on how to encourage tree planting and preservation on private property, what the challenges are (and solutions to) maintaining and improving tree canopy in Columbus, how they envision participating in this effort and finally an opportunity to Ask the Arborist any tree question they had.    ​​

                                              Hover over each photo for captions, or click to make the image larger.
Avenue #2: Web-Based Survey and Comment Form
Online Comment Form live February 1 - April 15, 2020
​Total Submissions Received: 301
Throughout the project, extensive information on the UFMP process, Columbus trees and canopy cover, and more was provided on this website.  An online public comment option was also available here in which anyone could provide their input and ideas.   Questions mirrored the input requested at the open house above, including: what neighborhood you live in, what does your neighborhood need, where do you want more trees, how to we encourage planting and care of trees on private property, what should our goals be as a community, and what are the challenges of (and solutions to) maintaining and improving tree canopy in Columbus.   Over 300 submissions were completed over the course of 2 ½ months via the project website.  ​
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Avenue #3: Small Group Presentations
UFMP Project Lead Rosalie Hendon offered to speak to small groups throughout the city during the Discovery Phase of this project, on request.  Presentations included: 
  • Ohio State University CFAES Career Expo, February 11th
  • State of the City, February 13th
  • Sustainable Columbus External Advisory Board, February 20th, approximately 20 attendees
  • Greenspot Advisory Board, February 21st, approximately 20 attendees
  • Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission Sustainability 2050 - Virtual presentation on March 27th, approximately 40 attendees
Further presentations were planned with multiple other groups but did not happen due to the emerging COVID-19 crisis.​
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Avenue #4:  Interviews
In addition, 23 interviews with more than 30 people were conducted to explore existing conditions, challenges and potential future direction of urban tree canopy in Columbus.  These included group interviews with city departments and elected officials as well as one-on-one interviews with representatives from organizations across the community.
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Avenue #5: Stakeholder Groups of Community Leaders
Two stakeholder groups were formed to guide the development of this work: the Project Team and Advisory Group.    Serving as a steering committee, the Columbus UFMP Project Team includes 30 people representing city departments and community organizations across the city. The Project Team has met regularly throughout the process and intensively guides the plan’s direction.   Over 100 people served on the Columbus UFMP Advisory Group. Through a series of three workshops, advisory group members reviewed data and findings, worked through challenges and solutions in small groups, and helped secure additional public engagement.    See the full member list for both of these groups here. 
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Online comment form was available on this website from February 1st to April 15th, 2020.

Reach of public input Process

As public comments were submitted, the Project Team worked to include data on where the person submitting comments lived, in order to ensure that outreach work reached as many as possible across the entire community of Columbus. Neighborhoods that were underrepresented on the Advisory Group or the public open house received targeted outreach for the online comment form. 

Comments received by neighborhood:
  • Clintonville (85)
  • North Linden / South Linden / State of Ohio (50)
  • Olentangy West / University District / Fifth by Northwest (48)
  • Northeast / Airport / East Columbus (42)
  • Mid East (29)
  • Greater Hilltop (26)
  • West Scioto (26)
  • Near East / Wolfe Park / East Livingston Avenue (24)
  • German Village / Brewery District (23)
  • South Side (23)
  • Far Northwest/Northwest (22)
  • Northland (21)
  • Southwest (20)
  • South East (19)
  • Hayden Run/ Far West (16)
  • Harrison West / Victorian Village / Italian Village / Milo Grogan / Fort Hayes / Downtown (14)
  • Far East (13)
  • Far South (9)
  • Far North (6)
  • Westland (4)
  • Dublin Road / Franklinton / Harmon Road (4)
  • Rocky Rock-Blacklick (3)
  • North Central (0)