Philadelphia tree advocates report progress on planting, with over 18,000 added in 3 years

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Philadelphia says it’s making progress toward becoming a leafier city.

It’s been three years since the city published the Philly Tree Plan, a roadmap for reversing the trend of tree loss and growing Philadelphia’s tree canopy.

Since then, the city, nonprofits and volunteer groups have planted more than 18,000 new trees and maintained close to double that amount, according to a progress report released Thursday.

“In these three years, we accomplished a tremendous amount, full stop,” said Kiasha Huling, director of Philly Tree Coalition, a group of residents, nonprofits and local government agencies partnering to implement the plan, at an event Thursday announcing the progress. “And we still have a ways to go.”

Between 2008 and 2018, Philadelphia lost 6% of its tree canopy, according to the city. Trees are unequally distributed, with poorer neighborhoods and those that were historically redlined having fewer trees. A lack of canopy leaves neighborhoods exposed to dangerous summer heat. 

The Philly Tree Plan set a goal of increasing the city’s overall canopy from 20% to 30% over the next three decades.

The plan recommended creating a new city forester role to align efforts among agencies and hiring a sidewalk coordinator to support residents in repairing sidewalk damage caused by trees. It also recommended the city hire more staff to manage trees in city parks, focusing on proactive tree planting along commercial corridors, and investing more in tree maintenance.

The progress report released Thursday shows that the coalition is meeting or making progress toward many of those goals.

The coalition has not yet assessed the city’s overall tree canopy coverage. Huling said the group plans to do that in 2028.

Planting trees in areas with too few

The plan prescribed focusing tree planting and maintenance efforts in “priority areas” of the city with sparse tree cover as well as other factors including high heat exposure, poor air quality and high asthma rates. These areas include parts of North, Northeast, West, Southwest and South Philly.

SEAMAAC, a nonprofit serving refugee and immigrant communities, worked with the Philly Tree Coalition to increase tree cover in South Philly. According to Sabia Afroz, the nonprofit’s community development program manager, the group planted and is maintaining several Japanese maple and cherry trees in Mifflin Square Park as well as persimmon and pomegranate trees in a community garden the organization runs.

With staff who collectively speak over 55 languages, SEAMAAC engaged for over a year with business owners along the Seventh Street corridor and eventually convinced several to request that trees be planted by their storefronts, Afroz said. She described the progress as “amazing.”

“South Philly is absolutely densely populated, [with] row homes and nowhere to go and no trees,” she said.

The Philly Tree Coalition reported progress through the Department of Commerce’s Taking Care of Business program, which pays neighborhood cleaning ambassadors to care for trees and planted at least 850 new saplings along commercial corridors between 2023 and 2025.