Benefits of Our Public Trees
The Forestry Department currently manages over 100,000 public trees in parks, boulevards, public right-of-ways, and other public areas. Trees provide many benefits like improving air and water quality, improving aesthetics, creating habitat for wildlife, and providing shade which can lower cooling costs during the summer.
In 2022, the benefits provided by over 51,000 of our inventoried public trees were calculated using iTree Eco Benefits Calculator. Although 51,000 trees is only a small percentage of our City’s overall canopy. Many of these public trees are strategically placed to maximize benefits provided to our community. For example, a large portion of public trees are planted near impervious surfaces like streets or sidewalks. Trees in these locations are crucial for intercepting stormwater runoff and providing shade to the public. The calculated benefits of our inventoried trees are listed below.
- 5,333,610 gallons of stormwater runoff avoided annually ($47.7K/Year)
- 27,314,000 gallons of rainfall intercepted annually
- 1,155 tons of carbon sequestered annually ($53.8K/Year)
- 21,430 tons of carbon stored total ($3.65 Million)
- 840 Tons of Oxygen produced annually
- 7.806 tons of air pollution removed annually ($43K/Year)
The City also conducted a canopy assessment of all trees within the Rochester city limits using iTree and satellite imagery in 2022. The canopy assessment revealed that the City of Rochester currently has 26% canopy coverage.