City Tree Spotlight: What Nashville Can Learn From Charlotte, NC
Like Nashville, Charlotte, North Carolina, is experiencing canopy loss from urban development. One way both of our cities have responded to decreases in overall tree coverage is by dedicating budget resources to the maintenance of public trees. Charlotte, however, currently has a more robust fund. Here, we’ll examine their urban forestry funding arrangement and draw lessons to improve upon our own city’s commitment to the long-term health of the local canopy.
Forested Cities of the Upper South
Nashville and Charlotte are both medium-sized cities in the upper South with humid, warm climates, but Nashville is slightly colder in the winter, and Charlotte is slightly warmer in the summer (on average). Both cities are located in somewhat hilly terrain, but Nashville’s location in the Cumberland River Basin means our city has more wetlands.
Charlotte is located near the eastern base of the Appalachian Mountains, where its mix of hardwoods and pines grows more densely than Nashville’s forests, which have more room to spread out. As naturally wooded places, Charlotte and Nashville share the problem of canopy loss to rapid development.
Canopy Loss
For both cities (which are losing canopy at a modest but steady rate), the fact that most canopy is on private land adds complexity to protection and planting policies. One approach Nashville and Charlotte have each taken in the larger strategy of maintaining their urban canopy cover is to intensify management of the public trees under their responsibility.
The City of Charlotte has a formal tree management system that treats its urban forest as a long-term asset: the canopy is framed as providing real benefits (ecosystem services such as shade, air filtration, stormwater management, and property value increases). Charlotte’s budget reflects this view by explicitly allocating money for tree maintenance (such as monitoring, pruning, removal, and planting).
Charlotte’s Tree Ordinance was adopted in 2010 after serious canopy loss was noted following a boom in development, in addition to the necessary removal of aging mature trees. In 2017, the city adopted a formal long-term urban forest master plan.
When the data showed canopy decline due to development pressures, the city and its residents set a long-term goal and established the legal and institutional frameworks to fund maintenance operations for the city’s trees. Similarly, Nashville adopted a formal budget allocation for tree maintenance to combat rapid canopy loss linked to intense development that resulted in more stormwater runoff, reduced air quality, and a need for cooling to combat the urban heat island effect.
Funding Urban Forestry
In 2014, Charlotte launched its Tree Canopy Preservation Program. Under this program, developers and property owners must either preserve a certain amount of tree cover or pay into the fund. These funds go into a dedicated municipal account designed specifically for land acquisition and long-term canopy preservation.
The mechanism in Nashville is similar: in 2021, with BL2021 972, the city created a dedicated fund, partially funded by construction permit revenues, for tree canopy restoration and maintenance. However, Nashville has a lower budget cap for its tree canopy fund than other similarly sized cities, including Charlotte.
In 2023, Nashville’s canopy funding ordinance was renewed and extended, but with a lower annual allocation than before ($2.5 million in 2021, $1.5 million since 2023). The city is continuing to plant trees in public spaces across Nashville neighborhoods, which will require increased capacity for care from the city. While the fund is actively being used, the allocated resources will need to increase relative to the scale of canopy loss, long-term maintenance requirements, and rapid development pressures.
Comparing Urban Forestry Budgets
In comparison to Nashville’s current $1.5 million commitment, Charlotte’s 2024 budget included $3.3 million for tree canopy preservation (tree maintenance and replacement), in addition to a one-time $1.1 million USDA Forest Service grant in 2023.
Charlotte’s tree reserve is supported by developer mitigation fees, the city’s general fund, and other sources, which provide it with a diversified funding base that is not subject to possible budget shortfalls or political priority shifts.
Still, the City of Charlotte recognizes its current funding is inadequate to handle the large maintenance requirements associated with its public tree canopy. For both Charlotte and Nashville, there is room to grow and develop the resources needed for fully proactive, long-term urban forest maintenance and expansion programs.
Calculating Urban Forestry Budgets
According to guidelines promoted by the Arbor Day Foundation (and used by many cities under Tree City USA), a minimum urban forestry budget should be $2 per capita per year. Some analyses of municipal programs suggest that a realistic average for well-funded urban forest programs is closer to $5-7 per capita per year (or more) when accounting for adequate long-term maintenance, planting, and risk mitigation.
Given Nashville’s population (about 750,000), that translates roughly to $1.5-5 million per year at minimum (which Nashville currently meets at the baseline).
Here is how Nashville and Charlotte compare to some other mid-sized cities in current tree management expenditure per capita per year:
Nashville, Tennessee: $2
Charlotte, North Carolina: $3 (source)
Nationwide cities of 100,000+ population: average of $5.80 (source)
Forestry-intensive cities: average of $7.37 (Arbor Day Final Report Economic Footprint, 2021)
Portland, Oregon: $12 (source)
Fairfax, Virginia: $15 (source)
If Nashville funded at $5-8 per capita, it would align with or exceed many well-funded U.S. cities’ forestry programs. If Nashville matched Portland’s per-capita forestry spending ($12/person) for 750,000 residents, that would be roughly $9 million per year: enough for comprehensive, proactive tree maintenance, planting, hazard mitigation, inspections, and urban forest staff. Even meeting Charlotte’s $3 per capita would bring Nashville closer to its original $2.5 million annual budget.
Without consistent, recurring, and sufficient funding, tree management and maintenance may become under-resourced.
Assessing Needs
Knowing what needs to be done is required to know what to fund! Both Charlotte and Nashville are data-driven in their approaches to urban forest management. Data of various kinds (such as tree species and location, canopy coverage, heat maps, public health information, and much more) can be integrated to tell a multifaceted story about the condition of the urban forest. Nashville’s most recent canopy assessment was released in December 2023.
Charlotte has built a strong data collection and reporting system (including a detailed inventory and regular assessment reporting requirements) grounded in commitments to ensuring continuity, providing justification for funding, and being guided by measurable goals. We’re still growing our capacity in Nashville, and Charlotte offers a good model to refer to along the way.
Lessons for Nashville From Charlotte, NC
Some lessons Nashville can draw from Charlotte’s experience combating canopy loss include:
Coordinate city-wide forestry goals.
Perform research and data collection for reporting and evidence-based policy development.
Diversify and strengthen funding sources.
Assess the status of funding per capita.
Layered urban forestry data helps motivate the case for an increased dedicated budget for public tree care in Nashville. Improved public capacity means the city would not only be able to build out its canopy management system, but also create opportunities to encourage public engagement and support private property tree care.
Having a diversified funding strategy like Charlotte’s (which includes a city budget allocation, mitigation fees, and external sources like grants) creates resilience and stability for the program in an ongoing way (and canopy care is an ongoing, long-term commitment!)
Both Nashville and Charlotte are making strides in developing robust public urban canopy management systems, and Nashville residents can take private-sector action today: support the Nashville Tree Conservation Corps’ work for our collective canopy by making a donation! We’re able to make focused, meaningful, and ongoing impacts in Nashville’s canopy thanks to your generous donations.
If you have space in your yard to plant a tree, buy your new specimen(s) from us! Browse NTCC’s tree sale for a range of Nashville hardy trees that we source from local tree farms.
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