Boston Urban Forest Plan

In 2022, Boston developed the Urban Forest Plan (https://www.boston.gov/departments/parks-and-recreation/urban-forest-plan), a manual for how the Boston community can work together to prioritize, preserve, and grow our tree canopy. Areas of the City that have historically experienced discrimination, marginalization and disinvestment have, on average, lower canopy than other areas of the City. Because of the impact of the urban forest on health and wellbeing, canopy expansion strategies should be designed to prioritize these areas as a step towards beginning to address these inequities.

As part of the plan, the City identified priorities zones by overlaying tree canopy levels, areas of extreme heat, environmental justice census blocks, and previously redlined districts. This dataset includes these 4 factor layers as well as the final priority zones.