The Legacy of Hurricanes, Historic Land Cover, and Municipal Ordinances on Urban Tree Canopy in Florida (United States)

Abstract

Urban Tree Canopy (UTC) greatly enhances the livability of cities by reducing urban heat buildup, mitigating stormwater runoff, and filtering airborne particulates, among other ecological services. These benefits, combined with the relative ease of measuring tree cover from aerial imagery, have led many cities to adopt management strategies based on UTC goals. In this study, we conducted canopy analyses for 300 cities in Florida to assess the impacts of development practices, urban forest ordinances, and hurricanes on tree cover. Within the cities sampled, UTC ranged from 5.9 to 68.7% with a median canopy coverage of 32.3% Our results indicate that the peak gust speeds recorded during past hurricanes events were a significant predictor of canopy coverage (P = 0.001) across the sampled cities. As peak gust speeds increased from 152 km/h (i.e., a lower-intensity Category 1 storm) to 225 km/h (lower-intensity Category 4 and the maximum gusts captured in our data), predicted canopy in developed urban areas decreased by 7.7%. Beyond the impacts of hurricanes and tropical storms, we found that historic landcover and two out of eight urban forest ordinances were significant predictors of existing canopy coverage (P-landcover < 0.001; P-tree preservation ordinance = 0.02, P-heritage tree ordinance = 0.03). Results indicate that some local policies and tree protections can potentially impact urban tree canopy, even in the face of rapid development and periodic natural disturbances.

Attitudes towards Tree Protections, Development, and Urban Forest Incentives among Florida (United States) Residents

“…More recently, Hilbert et al (2019) found that Florida (United States) cities with heritage tree protections had more tree canopy compared to peer cities lacking these protections. When this research was expanded to incorporate more communities (n=300) and account for external factors like hurricanes, a similar benefit was observed (Salisbury, 2022).…”

The Impact of Visual Defects and Neighboring Trees on Wind-Related Tree Failures

“…Throughout the world, urban developments are concentrated in coastal areas, many of which are exposed to intense wind events (e.g., hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons) [1] that can induce failure of whole trees, branches, trunks, or roots. Previous work has investigated wind-induced tree failures in natural areas and on plantations [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] as well as in urban areas [9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

Change Analysis of Urban Tree Canopy in Miami-Dade County

“…One study, for example, which relied on responses and measurements by homeowners, found urban forest loss between 13% for Hurricane Georges (1998) in Puerto Rico and 16% for Hurricane Charley (2004) in Florida, where palms survived significantly better than all other trees [25]. Another study found that peak gust speeds recorded during past hurricane events were negatively associated with canopy coverage across the 300 most populated municipalities in Florida [26].…”