Treeslouisville

TreesLouisville is a 501(c)3 dedicated to a more livable and healthy community for Louisville's current and future generations through a robust tree canopy. Our mission is to raise public awareness of the value of the community forest and Louisville's tree canopy deficit and to fund tree planting in areas of greatest need. Trees are a solution to many modern urban challenges, including prevention of water pollution, lowered energy consumption, cleaner air, temperature moderation, reduced asthma in children and higher property values. Overall, Louisville's existing canopy provides its residents with almost $330M in benefits per year. Carbon stored over the lifetime of Louisville trees contributes an additional $230M, bringing the collective benefit amount to $560M! Sadly, Louisville is losing about 54,000 trees per year due to issues such as storms, invasive species and old age. Aggressive steps must be taken to address canopy levels, or Louisville will experience a decrease in urban tree canopy from 37% to as low as 21% over the coming decades. Even the current level of 37% (closer to 30% if excluding park lands) is inadequate to provide the level of benefits that could and need to be realized in Louisville. Our goal is to ensure that the public and private investment in increasing the community tree canopy is done strategically and collaboratively and to provide a framework for supporting and coordinating existing tree planting organizations and efforts.