Prioritizing preferable locations for increasing urban tree canopy in New York City

In 2007, New York City launched MillionTreeNYC as one component of their goal to become the world’s “first environmentally sustainable 21st century city.” In support of that, a method utilizing GIS was developed to prioritize tree planting sites based on need and suitability. Need-based criteria included urban heat islands, areas of poor public health, poor air quality/noise, flood potential, and areas relevant to habitat and ecological corridors. Suitability criteria reflected the objectives of the three main planting partners (New York Restoration Project and two City agencies: Natural Resources Group and Central Forestry and Horticulture) and included program goals, appropriate parcel sizes, and public vs private land. These data were combined using custom GIS-based tools to create a ranked set of parcels for each partner to use for targeted tree planting.