Detail
Cleveland Street
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Introduction

This story map reflects the results of a project funded by American Forests through their Community ReLeaf program. Each Community ReLeaf project includes three distinct phases: urban forest assessment, restoration, and outreach and education. The project was led by Cleveland's urban forestry partners, including the Cleveland Department of Public Works Urban Forestry Section, City of Cleveland Office of Sustainability, The Holden Arboretum, and Western Reserve Land Conservancy.

Street tree inventory data gathered by Davey Resource Group, a division of The Davey Tree Expert Company, throughout two Cleveland neighborhoods. The inventory data were collected during spring 2016, which was then analyzed for management needs and modeled to estimate the benefits the community realizes from its public tree resource.

Analysis of Cleveland's street tree resource was confined to two neighborhoods. One of these neighborhoods (Buckeye-Shaker Square) is located on the east side of the city; the other neighborhood (Cudell) is located on the west side of the city. A thorough analysis of resource composition across Cleveland's diverse mix of neighborhoods is integral to understanding the management needs and benefits of the city's street trees. Within these two neighborhoods, the street tree inventory comprises 6,934 publicly-managed street trees.

The Buckeye-Shaker Square neighborhood encompasses an area of 1.227 square miles. The tree canopy cover is 25.4%. This neighborhood has been identified as a neighborhood in need of street trees with an abundance of vacant land. Based on the Cleveland Tree Plan's equity analysis, Buckeye- Shaker Square demonstrates a high need for tree canopy to address stormwater runoff issues and is one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the city.

Cudell has a total area of 1.331 square miles and a tree canopy cover of 16.0% of its total land area. Cudell is a diverse neighborhood that evokes Cleveland's industrial past. According to the Cleveland Tree Plan, Cudell is in high need of tree plantings based on inequities in ecosystem services and was rated to be in the highest need of air quality improvement benefits compared to all other neighborhoods. Cudell was also rated on factors of social equity such as canopy cover compared to income, density, unemployment, and child poverty. Cudell is one of Cleveland's neighborhoods most in need of tree canopy.