Honolulu Reporter

Growing our urban forests by the numbers! 

The City and County of Honolulu has been designated a Tree City USA for over 40 years, and this past year the Arbor Day Foundation provided some numbers to better understand the commitment the talented arborists in your City Division of Urban Forestry (DUF), and around the entire State of Hawai‘i, have towards maintaining and growing our tree inventory. 

Some of those encouraging statistics include:

Nearly 85% of the Hawai‘i residents live in a recognized Tree City Community (nationally it is about 47% of residents) 

We spend 22% more per capita on trees than the national average ($11.37 per capita in Hawai‘i vs. $8.89 nationally)

Honolulu also has the longest Growth Award streak in the State at four years. This award is given to communities that demonstrate a higher level of tree care and community engagement 

Of the 3,652 Tree City USA communities across the country, Hawai‘i has 10 including some of the longest standing communities like the City and County of Honolulu (40 years) and Maui County (45 years). 

While we work hard towards the island-wide goal of planting 100,000 trees by 2025, it takes everyone’s kokua to realize this effort. This includes helping everyone to understand the importance of our urban forests. Unfortunately, DUF receives more requests for street tree removals than for plantings and much of our canopy cover is being lost through actions taken by homeowners and private landowners.

For every $1 spent on tree planting and care, our trees provide $3 in benefits. As the only piece of City infrastructure that appreciates in value over time, we must recognize the benefit that an abundant and thriving tree population has for our community now more than ever. 

Please help us spread the word about the many benefits of trees, as they:

- Sequester & store carbon (helping offset climate change)

- Filter the air we breathe

- Provide shade & relief from the heat

- Intercept storm water runoff resulting in a cleaner ocean

- Reinforce a sense of community

- Increase property value & improve mental health

#trees #urbanforest #oahu #hawaii #forestry 

@oahutrees

@resilientoahu  

@arbordayfoundation

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