Since 1984, Chattanooga has seen an approximately 43% reduction in its urban forests while at the same time the amount of developed land has more than doubled, according to research from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Trees play an important, often underappreciated role in day-to-day life by helping homeowners cut down on utility costs, filtering out air pollution and alleviating health risks like heat stress or exhaustion.
“Extreme heat kills more people on average than all other weather-related hazards,” Noel Durant, Tennessee state director for the Trust for Public Land, said in a phone call Friday. “It’s a very significant public health concern when you lack tree canopy cover.”
Hoping to boost equitable tree coverage across the city, Chattanooga officials plan to apply for a little more than $13 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that would pay for tree planting, job training, invasive species removal and other community forestry efforts over a five-year period. The Chattanooga City Council is set to authorize that application Tuesday.