Another 22 percent of the land is covered in non-tree vegetation such as grass and shrubs. As the nation’s ninth largest metro area, Atlanta has strived to maintain its lush canopy.
Its city council recently set aside money to pay Trees Atlanta to plant 4,000 more trees in areas that have the least dense canopy. In November 2016, it updated the local tree ordinance to allow Tree Trust Fund money to also be used for buying forest land.
“Atlanta is perhaps the one major city in America that retains a viable portion of high-quality, native forest land,” said the Atlanta Canopy Alliance when the council revised the ordinance. “However, most of Atlanta’s land is privately owned, so most of that forested land is subject to development. It is critical for the health and functioning of our urban ecosystem to protect existing forested land in addition to planting more trees.”
To get a visual grasp on the data collected in 2014, here is an infographic from LawnStarter:
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