Tree Canopy Protection

The Urban Conservancy has joined others to advocate for the enforcement of existing tree protection policies and for a transparent, inclusive process to create a Unified Tree Policy, as called for in the New Orleans Reforestation Plan.

New Orleans’ old growth tree canopy is shrinking.

Here’s what we can do about it.

“We need to stop saying we are a resilient city when everything we do flies in the face of us being resilient. Trees are our number one resilient asset here, because they do multiple functions. The more we lose, the more we lose resiliency,” says Groundwork New Orleans Executive Director Todd Reynolds.

Background:

Measures are urgently needed in New Orleans to protect our old growth tree canopy from damage due to road, water, and electrical projects. In 2020, City Planning published its Tree Preservation Study to catalyze what would become The New Orleans Reforestation Plan. In 2022, Susannah Bridges Burley, founding director of local nonprofit Sustaining Our Urban Landscape (SOUL) presented data that revealed New Orleans’ tree canopy only covered 18.5% of the city, as compared to 47% in Atlanta, 38% in Austin, and 37% in Memphis. New Orleans’ tree canopy is roughly on par with Houston’s 18%.

SOUL then led a multi-year planning process to create the New Orleans Reforestation Plan, a blueprint for reforesting New Orleans. The New Orleans Reforestation Plan was released at a press conference in January 2023, during which public support was expressed by the Mayor’s Office, City Planning, the Office of Resilience and Sustainability, Parks and Parkways, and the City Council.

Despite the Reforestation Plan’s endorsement by municipal government, trees continue to suffer damage and are coming down at an alarming rate across New Orleans. No clear information has been provided about how Parks and Parkways plans to mitigate future tree loss. Demands by neighborhood and citywide associations for greater transparency about the tree loss spurred the creation of Tree Canopy NOLA (TCNOLA). One of TCNOLA’s main goals was to update the City Code provisions governing trees and move us toward a Unified Tree Policy, as called for in the New Orleans Reforestation Plan.

In July 2024, the Urban Conservancy created this webpage so that organizations, individuals, and businesses pushing for better canopy protection could stay informed and to update others. In addition to SOUL and TCNOLA, Groundwork New Orleans, Evans + Lighter Landscape Architecture, the Alliance for Affordable Energy, Grounds Krewe, and the Louisiana Landmarks Society are actively monitoring and advocating for a Unified Tree Policy.

Burley says, “The City has publicly expressed support for the Reforestation Plan, which calls for a Unified Tree Policy. Ordinance reform is crucial to mitigating the tree losses that we’re seeing right now. Evidence in the Reforestation Plan shows that cities with a robust tree canopy have robust tree ordinances to protect them. New Orleans needs the same protection. We need it now and with a robust and transparent process behind its creation.”

Pedestrians stroll comfortably in triple-digit weather under the live oak canopy in Audubon Park, August 2024
Update 4

Nov 2024

 – nola.com
By Stephanie Riegel

Nov 24, 2024–An Uptown woman on Sunday ended her month-long vigil to save the Chinese tallow tree in front of her house, after finalizing a commitment from city officials that the tree would be spared the ax and that the city would beef up its tree protection measures.Read the full story here.

Read more coverage about Lynda’s fight to save her tree:

New Orleans wants to cut down her ‘spirit tree.’ She’s fighting back – Matt Bloom, WWNO, 10/25/2024

Woman protests Uptown tree removal by camping out in branches – FOX8 TV, 10/25/2024

Woman camps out in Uptown tree with lawn chair to prevent its removal – Poet Wolfe, nola.com, 10/25/2024

NOPD says a woman could face charges from refusing to get down from Uptown tree – WWLTV, 10/25/2024

NO.Treehugger (photo) – David Grunfeld, New Orleans Advocate, 10/25/2024

 

Update 3

Sep 2024

by Josie Abugov – 9/25/2024 nola.com

Read the story here.

Update 2

Sep 2024

Contact:  Susannah Burley 504 616 6888

NEW ORLEANS, LA, September 19, 2024 –  At the September 16 Joint Utility, Cable, Telecommunications and Technology and Public Works, Sanitation and Environment Committee meeting, convened to analyze Hurricane Francine-related Entergy New Orleans’ and SWBNO’s communication failures, trees were cast as the major culprits for the power outages, with no specific data provided to back those claims up. 

District C Councilmember Freddie King suggested that a “preventative measure” could be to “cut the oak trees down and replace them with other types of trees with branches not as wide.” SOUL’s Board Chair, Andreas Merkl, responded, “The councilmembers representing two of New Orleans’ most iconic neighborhoods proposing the wholesale removal of oak trees should deeply concern all of us.”

King and Councilmembers Eugene Green and JP Morrell all voiced support to change the language of the memorandum of understanding between Parks & Parkways and Entergy New Orleans to expand the trimming radius around power lines from 4’ to 8’, in alignment with neighboring parishes. 

While no data was provided at the meeting to support the claim that trees were primarily to blame for the outages, at the July 23 meeting of the same committee, Entergy’s own data shows that while only 11% of power outages in the first quarter of 2024 were attributed to vegetation while approximately 35% were attributed to equipment failure and 34% to scheduled outages.

“Our trees are being scapegoated,” says Jesse George, policy director at Alliance for Affordable Energy. “Residents in some of our lowest-income areas experience intense heat island effect as a result of an extreme lack of urban canopy in large swaths of the City, rendering those neighborhoods upwards of 10 degrees hotter than surrounding areas. This creates its own issues with reliability and resilience as we experience more days of extreme heat in the summer — it taxes the grid, leads to outrageously high bills for those who can least afford them, and puts vulnerable residents at risk of heat-related illnesses.”

“Until we have a comprehensive and unified tree ordinance and urban forestry plan in place, ensuring strong protections and best standards of care for our treasured tree canopy, we cannot even begin to talk about expanding the trimming radius,” says Joseph Evans, Arborist and Principal at Evans + Lighter Landscape Architecture.


“Parks & Parkways and the Council have deferred consideration of ordinance protections throughout most of 2024,” says David Marcello of Tree Canopy NOLA. “The City Code provisions governing trees have not been amended since they were adopted in 1956! It’s long past time for New Orleans to get its tree protections into alignment with 21st-century policies.” Parks and Parkways is scheduled to present its tree protection ordinance at the Quality of Life meeting scheduled for October 7 at 1 pm in council chambers.

“We have got to stop demonizing the trees,” says Todd Reynolds, Executive Director of Groundwork New Orleans. “Ten live oak trees on a street soak up 8000 gallons of stormwater per rain event- that’s 8000 gallons that aren’t going into our already overtaxed pumping system. When we lose trees, we’ll see increased street flooding. They are a part of the ecosystem between trees, SWBNO  and Entergy. All three can exist in the ecosystem if we just slow down and work together. It all starts with getting an ordinance in place that will protect the trees.”

In January 2024, Green issued his support of the New Orleans Reforestation Plan at a press conference. This plan has led to an $8mm grant from the USDA and US Forest Service, as well as a portion of the $49.9mm award from the EPA to plant 7,500 trees. However, he made unsubstantiated claims at Monday’s Committee meeting about live oak branches impacting power in Gentilly Terrace saying, “All I saw was trees on wires.” However, Green did not address the fact that this area is undergoing major infrastructure construction with equipment blocking access to critical energy infrastructure.

“It’s nonsensical that the City is willingly taking millions in federal funding to plant trees, while the Council simultaneously calls for their removal. Clearly we need to rethink our approach. Energy resilience is a systems problem, and it requires all of the relevant parties putting their heads together. Currently, though, the City departments who interface with trees are siloed. We can get this right and have reliable energy and the tree canopy we need to shade our streets and absorb stormwater,” says Susannah Burley, Executive Director of SOUL.

“We have a lot of work to do to educate our city leadership to take a more holistic view of the economic and environmental benefits our trees provide,” says Dana Eness, Executive Director of the Urban Conservancy. “We encourage residents to reach out to their council members to express their support for enforceable, coordinated tree protection.”

Residents will have an opportunity to make public comments at the joint Utility, Cable, Telecommunications and Technology, and Climate Change and Resilience Committee meeting on September 25, 2024 at 10 am and at the Quality of Life Committee meeting on October 7 at 1 pm in council chambers.  For those who cannot attend in person, there are instructions on how to access the livestream and submit comments at https://council.nola.gov/home/

The orginal press release was revised to reflect meeting times that have changed on 9/23/2024.

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Save Trees with Ordinance Protection (S.T.O.P.) is a coalition comprised of individuals and organizations with two requests of the City: 1) The immediate and transparent enforcement of existing tree protection policies; and 2) A transparent process to create a Unified Tree Policy as called for in the New Orleans Reforestation Plan, which was publicly supported by the Mayor’s Office, City Planning, The Mayor’s Office of Resilience and Sustainability, Parks and Parkways and the City Council at a January 2023 press conference. Learn more about S.T.O.P and get involved at urbanconservancy.org/project/tree-canopy-protection/

 

Update 1

Aug 2024

In this episode of Crosstown Conversations, some of New Orleans’ biggest tree advocates discuss the city’s iconic tree canopy and the damage that has been done to it by negligent contractors with heavy machinery during construction and roadwork.

Parks & Parkways’ Updated Tree Protection Ordinance (Posted 12/17/2024) – On October 7, 2024, the Department of Parks & Parkways introduced the first draft of the updated Tree Protection Ordinance to the New Orleans City Council Quality of Life Committee (see below).

The second draft was posted on December 17, 2024, and the Department is accepting public commentary until January 21, 2025 here. 

Read a brief summary of some errors and omissions identified in the current ordinance draft by tree advocates. (01/16/2025)

Parks & Parkways’ tree protection ordinance presentation and public comments to the Quality of Life Committee (10/7/2024)

Press Release: Threats to Tree Canopy from City Council (9/19/2024)

Public Record Act Request Response (9/6/2024)

Public Records Act Request Letter  (8/6/2024)

Tree Canopy NOLA’s Draft Ordinance (Mar 2024)

Tree Canopy NOLA’s Ordinance Drafting Project Guidelines

TCNOLA Discussion Guide to CNO and TCNOLA Tree Protection Ordinances

Redlined Draft 2024 Tree Protection Ordinance 

Read the Draft Tree Protection Ordinance, Submit Comments

What if New Orleans had an Arborist and Forestry Division, like hundreds of other US cities?

Trees Atlanta is a nonprofit that protects and improves Atlanta’s urban forest by planting, conserving, and educating. Check out its handy How to Advocate for Trees guide.

Press Conference

Todd Reynolds, Groundwork New Orleans director, speaks at August 6, 2024 press conference.

 

 

Content Link
Media Kit Click Here
Slide Presentation Click Here
Video of Event Click Here

 


Press from the Event

Some of New Orleans’ biggest tree advocates discuss the city’s iconic tree canopy and recent damage to it (Crosstown Conversations, 8/10/24)

 

New Orleans is one of the worst heat islands. Local groups want the city to protect the tree canopy. (NOLA.com, 8/7/2024)

 

Coalition calls for action in protecting New Orleans trees (WGNO.com, 8/6/2024)

 

Protecting canopy: Groups push for tree ordinance in New Orleans (WWNO.org, 8/6/2024)

Canopy Protection and Tree Loss

In Louisiana, little stands in the way of taking down trees for development  (Louisiana Illuminator, 9/9/2024)

Chopped-down Gonzales oaks stir a debate over how to protect beloved Louisiana trees (The Advocate, 8/30/2024)

New Orleans has rules to protect its majestic live oaks. A Gentilly road project ignored them. (nola.com, 3/18/2024)

A century-old New Orleans live oak had a date with a buzz saw. One neighbor got it a reprieve. (nola.com, 11/19/2023)

Photos of Tree Damage – St. Roch, Gentilly

Broadway near St. Charles (SWBNO SSERP Project) [Aug 2024]

8300 Freret (SWB Project, Drennan Const) [Nov. 2024]

Norman C. Francis & Tulane [Oct 2024]

Milan Neighborhood Near Napoleon [Nov. 2024]

Adams St Uptown RNGD Const [Oct 2024]

Do you want to join others advocating for tree protection? Click here to fill out our volunteer interest form!

Call to Action:

Read Parks & Parkways’ Updated Tree Protection Ordinance and submit your comments by 1/21/2025!

On October 7, 2024, the Department of Parks & Parkways introduced the first draft of the updated Tree Protection Ordinance to the New Orleans City Council Quality of Life Committee.  The second draft was posted on December 17, 2024, and the Department is accepting public commentary until January 21, 2025 here.