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Start Date
4-4-2023 10:00 AM
End Date
4-4-2023 10:09 AM
Abstract
Trees are recognized as essential for maintaining a livable urban environment and the benefits they provide to people are increasingly important in the face of a changing climate. Yet, studies in Portland and elsewhere find that trees and the benefits they provide are inequitably distributed to communities differing by race/ethnicity and income. Furthermore, loss of trees to development pressure or environmental stressors presents additional challenges. To provide a regional perspective, we assessed the relationships between tree cover and communities across 27 cities and four counties in the broader Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area. By integrating new maps for tree canopy cover and canopy change from 2014 to 2020, with land use data, and Census variables describing community race/ethnicity and income, we examined relationships in current tree cover and recent changes in cover across communities as well as across different political jurisdictions and land uses. Across the region, canopy cover was 25.2% in 2020, yet varied by city (20.0-63.9%), and was lower in unincorporated areas (13.0-28.1%). A substantial disparity in tree cover was observed across communities. Canopy cover in predominantly BIPOC communities was on average 28.7% compared to 33.8% in other communities. And, canopy cover in predominantly low-income communities was 24.2% compared to 34.1%. Additionally, many of these areas saw a net canopy loss potentially compounding the disparity. This work provides a regionally consistent baseline, identifies potential priority areas for action, encourages community conversations, and informs planning efforts to achieve an equitable distribution of trees and the benefits they provide to people.
Subjects
GIS / modeling, Land use planning
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/40493
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Captions
ShoneneScott_UREC symposium April 2023.pdf (4501 kB)
Presentation slides
Trends in Urban Tree Canopy and Dimensions of Social Equity Across the Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Area
Trees are recognized as essential for maintaining a livable urban environment and the benefits they provide to people are increasingly important in the face of a changing climate. Yet, studies in Portland and elsewhere find that trees and the benefits they provide are inequitably distributed to communities differing by race/ethnicity and income. Furthermore, loss of trees to development pressure or environmental stressors presents additional challenges. To provide a regional perspective, we assessed the relationships between tree cover and communities across 27 cities and four counties in the broader Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area. By integrating new maps for tree canopy cover and canopy change from 2014 to 2020, with land use data, and Census variables describing community race/ethnicity and income, we examined relationships in current tree cover and recent changes in cover across communities as well as across different political jurisdictions and land uses. Across the region, canopy cover was 25.2% in 2020, yet varied by city (20.0-63.9%), and was lower in unincorporated areas (13.0-28.1%). A substantial disparity in tree cover was observed across communities. Canopy cover in predominantly BIPOC communities was on average 28.7% compared to 33.8% in other communities. And, canopy cover in predominantly low-income communities was 24.2% compared to 34.1%. Additionally, many of these areas saw a net canopy loss potentially compounding the disparity. This work provides a regionally consistent baseline, identifies potential priority areas for action, encourages community conversations, and informs planning efforts to achieve an equitable distribution of trees and the benefits they provide to people.