Wednesday, 4/26/2023
Mayor Jane Castor today called on Tampa to renew and re-energize its commitment to maintaining a world-class tree canopy, setting a goal of planting 30,000 new trees by 2030. The mayor’s announcement comes as a new, thorough assessment of Tampa’s citywide tree canopy by the USF Water Institute showed that tree cover dropped by 2.3 percent since 2016. The report, providing information about the size, composition, health, and distribution of Tampa’s trees, found canopy coverage of 30 percent of the city’s total land area, its lowest point in 26 years. Tampa has been a nationally recognized Tree City for 41 years, and its tree ordinance requires an assessment of the tree canopy and urban forest every five years, with today’s results reflecting data collected in 2021. The full report can be found on the Publications page.
