Tree Canopy Protection

The Urban Conservancy has joined the Save Trees through Ordinance Protection (STOP) Coalition which is advocating for the enforcement of existing tree protection policies and a transparent process for creating 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.

At the September 16 Joint Utilities and Public Works committee meeting, council members threw major shade (pardon the pun) on our tree canopy when discussing power outages during Hurricane Francine, but provided no specific data to support those claims.

You can tune in to the recording here. At the 1:31 mark going forward for quite some time, Cms. King, Morrell, and Green discuss the need to increase the amount of trimming clearance given to Entergy, expanding it from 4′ to 8 ‘ around power lines.  At around the 1:34 mark, Cm. King goes even further to say he thinks maybe we should “Cut the oak trees down and replace them with other types of trees with branches not as wide.” (He released a statement on 9/23, saying he misspoke.)

Here are 2 upcoming opportunities to speak for the trees (and they need your voice!). It is imperative that where trees (or power outages) are being discussed, tree allies be present or submit comments in advance. Please attend when you can and share with your networks. (Also please pay attention to notices of cancellations, as these meetings are often cancelled with very little advance warning!):

Residents will have an opportunity to make public comments at the

  • Joint Utility, Cable, Telecommunications and Technology and Climate Change and Sustainability Committee meeting chaired by Cms. JP Morrell and Helena Moreno on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, at 10 am and at the
  • Quality of Life Committee meeting on Oct. 7, 2024 at 1 pm, when Parks & Parkways will introduce its tree protection ordinance.

Both meetings will be held in council chambers, 1300 Perdido Street 1st Floor, Room 1E07 New Orleans, LA 70112. Check https://council.nola.gov/meetings/ for any schedule changes before heading to City Hall. For those who cannot attend in person, there are instructions on how to access the livestream and submit comments in advance at https://council.nola.gov/home/.

Read the September 19 press release from the S.T.O.P Coalition (the UC is a member).

To receive periodic updates on tree advocacy opportunities, please visit https://www.urbanconservancy.org/project/tree-canopy-protection/#take-action.

Thank you for paying attention to our canopy!

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, 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 January, TCNOLA sent an email to all members of the City Council calling for ordinance reforms to provide better tree protection.

In response, Councilmember Leslie Harris and two members of her staff met in February with TCNOLA’s Convenor, David Marcello. All agreed that it would be helpful to have a proposed draft of City Code updates for consideration at a May 6 meeting of the Council’s Quality of Life Committee, which Cm. Harris chairs. Her Office asked for a draft by the end of March. TCNOLA delivered its Discussion Draft on March 22 in an email that was sent to all members of the City Council and Parks and Parkways.

Shortly before the May 6 Committee hearing, Parks and Parkways announced that they would author their own version of an ordinance and that they needed an extension till the end of May. When the end of May arrived, Parks and Parkways asked for another extension to the end of June, and thereafter, they sought and received another extension to the end of July. The most recent communication with members of the STOP Coalition said that a Parks and Parkways draft would not be scheduled for a hearing until October.

David Marcello warns, “Trees are being irreparably harmed by roadwork and other ills. Current City Code provisions are woefully outdated. We need robust ordinance protections that will safeguard the city’s diminishing tree canopy from further harm.”

Executive Director of SOUL, Susannah 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 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.

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.

 

Ordinance Drafting Project Guidelines

Draft Ordinance

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

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

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

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

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

Check below for ways to take action!

Upcoming:

Residents will have an opportunity to make public comments at the:

The meeting will be held in council chambers, 1300 Perdido Street 1st Floor, Room 1E07 New Orleans, LA 70112. For those who cannot attend in person, there are instructions on how to access the livestream and submit comments in advance at https://council.nola.gov/home/.

Check https://council.nola.gov/meetings/ or with councilmembers on the committee for last-minute cancellations.

Read the September 19 press release from the S.T.O.P Coalition (the UC is a member).

Past:

SWBNO and Parks and Parkway have rescheduled the public meeting to address the concerns of the tree removals on Broadway Street as part of the Sanitary Sewer Evaluation and Rehabilitation Program (SSERP) work. Meeting is Monday September 23 from 5:30-6:30 pm at the Carrollton Water Plant Auditorium at 8800 S Claiborne Avenue. Please have your ID available to provide to security at the gate and you will be able to park in the front lot next to security. You will walk into the Engineering Building across from the parking lot and we will be there to assist you to the auditorium.

The Department of Parks & Parkways, through an allocation from City Council, is providing up to $20,0000 in funding to assist nonprofit partners in Orleans Parish in planting trees on public property in the City of New Orleans, and the Foundation is managing the grants process. This award will provide support for nonprofit partners to aid Parks & Parkways in their citywide tree planting projects and will help the City reach its goal of restoring and expanding New Orleans urban forest with 40,000 new trees planted by 2030. Deadline to apply is September 20. More information and details on how to apply can be found here.

Residents will have an opportunity to make public comments at the:

24th Annual Carey Hammett Tree School registration is open!
Wednesday, October 2, 2024. Doors open at 8 am. Jefferson Performing Arts Center 6400 Airline Drive, Metairie.
Learn more and register here by 9/20/24.