New York City unveiled its first-ever Urban Forest Plan on April 21, 2026 C.E., setting a goal of expanding tree canopy from 23.4% to 30% of the city’s surface area by 2040 C.E. Announced at NYCHA’s Red Hook Houses in Brooklyn, the plan targets the neighborhoods that need shade most — communities that have long been underserved by the city’s green infrastructure.
At a glance
- Urban forest plan: New York City’s first comprehensive roadmap for tree canopy covers protection, new planting, and community stewardship — all required under Local Law 148 of 2023.
- Tree canopy coverage: The city’s existing canopy shades roughly 45,000 acres — about the size of Brooklyn — and the plan aims to add enough trees to reach 30% coverage by 2040 C.E.
- Environmental justice gap: Environmental Justice communities currently have around 19% canopy cover, compared to 26% in non-Environmental Justice areas — a disparity the plan directly addresses.
Why canopy coverage is a justice issue
Trees are not evenly distributed across New York City, and the gap follows a familiar pattern. Wealthier, whiter neighborhoods tend to sit under dense, connected canopies. Lower-income communities of color — many already burdened by pollution and heat — are left with far less shade.
The contrast inside the Bronx makes the point clearly. Pelham Bay sits under a thick canopy that cools the air and absorbs stormwater. Just a few miles away, Hunts Point — one of the city’s hottest and most pollution-burdened neighborhoods — has canopy cover of only six percent, among the lowest in the entire city.
Chief Climate Officer Louise Yeung, who announced the plan, said that for too long, New Yorkers of color in environmental justice communities had been left without adequate access to trees and the benefits they provide. The Urban Forest Plan is designed to close that gap, not just add trees where planting is easy.
What the plan actually does
The Urban Forest Plan outlines four main strategies: protect existing canopy, expand planting on streets and in public spaces, promote tree planting on private property, and build out workforce and stewardship programs that get New Yorkers involved in caring for trees.
NYC Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura noted that the department had already been planting a record number of trees year over year, adding canopy where it was needed most. The new plan gives that effort a unified, long-term strategy backed by cross-agency coordination.
City agencies will work alongside community organizations, nonprofits, and private property owners to carry out the plan. Progress toward the 30% canopy goal will be tracked over time, with public engagement built into the process. The plan fulfills the mandate of Local Law 148 of 2023, which required the city to develop and regularly update a long-term urban forest strategy informed by public input.
Trees as living infrastructure
Urban trees do far more than provide shade. A well-distributed canopy cools neighborhoods, manages stormwater, filters air pollution, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and increases habitat for wildlife. In a city that has experienced record heat events, those functions are not amenities — they are infrastructure.
NYCHA Chief Executive Officer Lisa Bova-Hiatt highlighted that expanding canopy on public housing campuses also creates workforce opportunities, giving residents hands-on roles in caring for the urban forest. That connection between green infrastructure and economic inclusion runs through the plan’s design.
City Parks Foundation Executive Director Heather Lubov pointed to stewardship as a central feature of the plan — not just planting trees, but building the community capacity to keep them alive and healthy over time. A tree planted without follow-up care is unlikely to survive in a dense urban environment.
A long road to 30%
Reaching 30% canopy coverage by 2040 C.E. is an ambitious target, and the city acknowledges it will require sustained effort across agencies, property owners, and communities. Planting trees on private land — which the plan encourages — depends on voluntary participation that can be hard to guarantee. And young street trees in New York City face real threats: compacted soil, heat, drought, and physical damage mean many do not survive to maturity.
The plan commits to tracking progress and updating its approach based on results, which builds in some accountability. Whether that accountability will be enough to sustain momentum across administrations and budget cycles remains an open question.
For now, the release of the Urban Forest Plan marks a meaningful shift: from ad hoc planting toward a coordinated, equity-driven strategy for one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The goal is a New York where the relief of standing under a tree on a hot day is available to every neighborhood — not just the ones that have always had it.
Read more
For more on this story, see: NYC Mayor’s Office — Urban Forest Plan Release
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