The 2019 Cuyahoga County Urban Tree Canopy Assessment is an update to a countywide assessment published by the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission in 2013. Both studies used a countywide assessment of tree canopy for data measurement. The 2013 report used data measured in 2011 while the 2019 report used data measured in 2017. Together, the original and updated studies provide a current snapshot in time, as well as an indication of change over the six-year period from 2011 to 2017.

As with the previous study, the goal of the updated study was to apply the USDA Forest Service’s Urban Tree Canopy Assessment protocols to Cuyahoga County. The updated analysis was conducted primarily from 2017 infrared imagery from the National Agricultural Inventory Program (NAIP), and from surface elevation data provided by LIDAR data collections from the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District and Cleveland Metroparks. Additional local data sources (building footprints, impervious surfaces, etc.)
provided enhancements to the final data results.

This project was made possible entirely through $28,000 in contributions from local organizations:

Substantial in-kind contributions, valued at over $110,000 were provided by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, Cleveland Metroparks, and the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission.

Land cover analysis was conducted by the Spatial Analysis Laboratory (SAL) at the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources. Tree canopy metrics and reporting were prepared by the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission.