Charlotte loves its trees; in fact, we’re known as The City of Trees. Trees give the Queen City’s neighborhoods their characteristic charm and our urban forest is home to an abundance of wildlife. They also keep us cool and clean our air.
But there are continual threats to our beloved tree canopy. It’s aging for one; and in a city that’s growing by leaps and bounds, development and bigger houses on wooded lots are cutting into the number and health of our trees.
The city is in the midst of updating its urban forestry master plan and has a longstanding goal of building up our tree canopy coverage to 50% by 2050. That’s a big goal considering a recent analysis found that Charlotte is losing an average of three football fields a day worth of trees.
Is that goal attainable? What can you do to help ensure the health of our trees? We talk about these growing concerns and branch out to answer some of your questions about trees.
GUESTS
Tim Porter, chief urban forester, City of Charlotte
Laurie Reid, city arborist for the City of Charlotte
Jane Myers, executive director of TreesCharlotte
