Jersey City’s Urban Forest

Jersey City is losing about 124 trees per year due to multiple causes, like natural disasters, lack of diverse species causing the spread of disease, poor planting, and maintenance.According to the recent Tree Canopy Study commissioned by the Jersey City Environmental Commission, Jersey City has only a 17% tree canopy when a city this size should have more like 44%.

The Tree Canopy Coverage By Ward map and bar graph above depicts Ward F, Ward C and Ward B with a high tree canopy, but this map also doesn’t take into account Liberty State Park, Lincoln Park, and Arlington Park. This map also doesn’t accurately grasp how low of a tree canopy Jersey City already has. Each ward should have 30-50% tree canopy coverage to be considered healthy, whereas the largest coverage is at a mere 20%. Figure 4 on the right illustrates each park by their tree canopy and size. For example, number 16; Terrance Avenue Park is small but it is shaded in dark green so it has a high tree canopy for that size while Berry Lane Park is large and it has a low tree canopy for its size. The low tree canopy coverage on all the maps are considered a high priority for the Division of Parks and Forestry to plant more trees. But it is also with help from the residents that the trees already planted is well taken care of.

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