Land Use Policy

Trees and tree canopy play a crucial role in theenvironment, providing benefits such as clean water and air, erosionprevention, climate control, and sustained ecological resourcesand native species habitat.

Many cities around the world are experiencing the negative effects associated with not sustaining a sufficient

level of tree canopy coverage. Tree canopy provides environmental benefits such as clean water and

air, erosion prevention, climate control, and native species habitat and provides economic benefits such

as higher housing values and lower energy expenditures. We study local government policies in a large

U.S. metropolitan area (the Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area) to find which policies perform the best

at preserving or increasing urban forests. Empirical analysis reveals that a set of effective tree ordinance

clauses, zoning ordinances, and having high quality smart growth projects in the community all help in

preserving tree canopy in economically and environmentally meaningful amounts. Other actions, such

as simply having a tree ordinance, designating a key management person in charge of tree programs, the

presence of a tree board, and multiple communication channelswere shown to be ineffective for our data

set. Because benefits from tree canopy accrue to the local government’s budget, to residents and to business

owners, the entire community should gain from the passage of effective policies to preserve their

local tree canopy. Estimated economic benefits from preserving tree canopy through an effective set of

public policies are in the range of $10–15 million annually in an average county, mostly due to savings on

stormwater management.