Impact Areas
Root Nashville’s planting efforts are focused on key neighborhoods, in order to create an equitable tree canopy.
Priority Outcomes
Root Nashville has determined five priority outcomes for this campaign that address public health, equity, and environmental quality.
Equitable canopy distribution
Trees are not evenly distributed across our neighborhoods, and we aim to change that.
Promote public health
Trees improve respiratory health, especially for children with asthma.
Cool our city
Trees lower temperatures by providing shade and through the process of evapotranspiration.
Improve water quality
Trees reduce stormwater runoff and filter pollutants, enabling cleaner water to reach our waterways.
Diversify our canopy
The invasive Emerald Ash Borer (or EAB) has arrived in Nashville. The campaign is planting a diversity of species to help minimize these losses.
Data
To identify the areas in Nashville with the greatest opportunity to meet these priority outcomes, the Root Nashville team created thresholds and maps for the following priority factors:
- Percentage of tree canopy coverage (2016) vs canopy coverage goals outlined in 2016 Metropolitan Nashville Urban Forestry and Landscape Master Plan
- Respiratory disease hospitalizations by zip code (Metro Public Health)
- Daytime Average Temperature (NASA)
- Watersheds with highest polluted stream miles
- Areas with high densities of Vulnerable Populations (low-income and children under 5) (US Census Bureau)
Root Nashville synthesized this social and environmental data into a single map to reveal neighborhoods in Nashville that contain multiple priority factors.
Priority Neighborhoods
While Root Nashville seeks to plant trees all over Davidson County, philanthropic efforts are focused in these priority neighborhoods. To view these areas in detail using Google Maps, click the images below.
