Green Infrastructure Strategies of Nashville

1. Green Infrastructure Strategies of Nashville

2. Speakers • Chris Armour is vice chair of the Metro Nashville Tree Advisory Committee and co-founder of Trees Nashville, a nonprofit that is working to teach Nashville the value of its urban forest • Kim Hawkins is a founding principal in Nashville-based Hawkins Partners, landscape architects and was a founding board member of the Tennessee Urban Forestry Council.

3. Program • I. Nashville Naturally • II. Urban Tree Canopy Assessment • III. Green Infrastructure Strategies

4. Market Place of IdeasBy Will Allen & Ole M. Amundsen The Conservation Fund

5. Background "My hope is for individuals and businesses across Davidson County to see what we’re doing and implement similar practices. Together we can improve the quality of life for all of us and make our city, and our world, a better place in which to live."--Mayor Karl Dean The goal is to make the City of Nashville the greenest city in the Southeast balancing conservation and development. Project Blog site http://nashvilleopenspace.wordpress.com

6. Planning Process and Engagement Advisory Committee Meeting Public Forums June 2010 Focus Groups March 2010 Market Place of Ideas Sept 2010 Final Presentation Nov 2010 We are here January 2010 Monthly Reports to the Advisory Committee

7. Themes • Connecting People to the Green Infrastructure Network • Connecting Wildlife and Water Networks • Urban and Rural Farming and Food Security • Preserving Our Historic and Iconic Sites • Recreation and Health • Parks, trails and greenways • Public access points to recreational waters • Cultural and Historic Sites • Growth Pattern and Character • Greenbelts • Viewsheds and vistas • Working Land and Water • Working farms • Sustainably managed forests

8. Thematic Goals 1. The most interconnected network of parks and greenways in the Southeast 2. Protected, interconnected natural land and water network with multiple benefits. 3. Sustainable, local food system in rural and urban areas 4. Preservation of our scenic and historic beauty

9. Green Infrastructure – What is it? A strategically planned and managed network of natural lands, working landscapes, and other open spaces that conserves ecosystem values and functions and provides associated benefits to human populations IslandPress.org Greeninfrastructure.Net

10. Facts and Figures Total County Land Area: 336,386 acres   Metro Parks Acreage 10,392 acres (3%) Public Open Space and Easements: 22,505 acres (6.7%) Dedicated Open Space (Community Plan, Floodplain + Buffer) 22,516 acres (6.7%) Open Water (Reservoirs + Cumberland River): 13,267 acres (3.9%) All Open Space and Open Water Subtotal: 58,288 acres (17.3%) Community Plan Potential Open Space 2,197 acres (0.7%) Green Infrastructure Hubs (Protected or Regulated) 14,356 acres (4.3%) Unprotected Green Infrastructure Hubs 101,240 acres (30.0%) Photo of Mill Creek by Nancy Rhoda

11. Greenest in the SE Preliminary Ideas by The Conservation Fund: Conserve12,000 acres by 2035 Remove all impaired waterways by 2020 Restore the Nashville Crayfish All residents within ½ mile of a park Add 160 miles of new greenways by 2035 Implement Urban Tree Canopy Study Implement Metro Water Services Plan Your Additional Ideas TOO! Photo by Laura Brown

12. Conservation Easement Historic Site Conservation Development Floodplain Regulation Mitigation Bank Park Site Working Lands Stewardship Fee Simple Acquisition Implementation Quilt

14. What is the Tree Canopy? The tree canopy is the extent of trees, branches, and leavesthat cover the ground when viewed from above.

15. Why is it Important? • Best way to determine the location, size, and extent of the urban forest • Increase decision-makers’ understanding of urban forest resources • Determine the amount of tree canopy that currently exists and the amount that could exist

16. Urban Forestry in Nashville, Public • Codes Forester • Public Works • Metro Parks • Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency • Water Services • Metro Tree Advisory Committee

17. Metro Tree Advisory Committee • Urban Forester position • Cooperation among departments • Tree canopy assessment

18. Trees for a Better Nashville Water Services Public Works Parks & Recreation Codes Planning Schools Housing US Forest Service State Division of Forestry Nashville Electric Service Metro Council Members Activists Nonprofits

19. Greenest City in the Southeast

20. City Takes Responsibility for Project • Metro Tree Advisory Committee discussed goals and objectives for assessment • MTAC members wrote grant application and RFP • UTC Committee composed of department andMTAC representatives reviewed documents • Public Works secured matching funds • UTC Committee chose vendor • Planning Department supplied data • UTC Committee reviewed findings

21. Two Years Later

22. Nashville’s Tree Canopy Assessment The tree canopy assessment project

23. Objectives • Determine the percentage of tree canopy in the county • Determine distribution of that canopy • Increase city decision makers’ understanding of their urban forest resources • Help set specific, measurable, and attainable tree canopy goals

24. Data Needed • High-resolution imagery • Supporting GIS layers • Land cover data • Geographic boundaries

25. Data Supplied by Federal Agencies High-resolution imagery from 2008 • National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) with 1-meter spatial resolution • LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data with elevation data for canopy height information and support of the land cover classification

26. Data Supplied by Metro Planning Supporting GIS layers • Geographic boundaries and property parcels • Landuse: parks, agriculture, vacant lots, • Council districts and community sub-areas • Hydrology: lakes, ponds, rivers and streams • Impervious surfaces: buildings, streets, sidewalks, and parking lots • Nashville Electric Service powerline corridors

27. Methodology High-resolution aerial photography

28. Methodology Identify man-made structures

29. Methodology Divide into land-use categories

30. Methodology Example of land-use categories

31. Workflow

32. Findings • 47% of Nashville is shaded by trees that need protection to prevent losses. • 35% of the county has places to plant trees. • Nashville has a relatively healthy tree canopy but results are skewed by rural areas. Urban areas have a lot of room for improvement. • Formula for success involves multiple stakeholders.

33. Canopy by Neighborhood

34. Findings

35. Findings Distributionof existing UTC by land use

36. How does Nashville compare? • Atlanta 27% • Baltimore 27% • Boston 29% • Dallas 30% • Los Angeles 21% • Milwaukee 21% • Nashville 47% • Providence 23% • Salt Lake City 14% • Seattle 23% • St. Louis 43% • Washington DC 35%

37. Findings Findings • 35% of the county could add trees. • 7% of that total is impervious surfaces. • That’s 119,000 acres of additional trees.

38. Opportunities Existing Potential Commercial and industrial15% 27% Single family residential 44% 37% Downtown 4.5% 16% Public rights-of-way represent 9% of the land area yet contain only 3% of UTC.

39. Tools Interactive Map

40. Tools Interactive Map

41. ToolsUTC calculator

42. ToolsCanopy by Council District

43. ToolsPotential by Council District

44. Next Steps • Set canopy goals that are realistic and measurable. • Start planting trees!

45. More Information www.treesnashville.org/tca.html

46. Questions? • Chris Armour, Trees Nashville • Christopher@treesnashville.org • www.treesnashville.org • Heather Langford, TUFC • hlangford@gmail.com