Rhode Island Uses Urban Forestry to Adapt to Climate Change and Improve Public Health
Rhode Island is working to increase equitable access to nature across the state through a suite of urban forest planning tools, policy initiatives, and innovative financing mechanisms.
Urban forests in and around cities, suburbs, and towns provide a variety of benefits for climate adaptation, carbon sequestration, public health, water quality, and more. By capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide and reducing energy use for building heating and cooling, urban forests can help ameliorate climate change-amplified heat waves. Urban tree canopy can also combat public health threats from extreme heat by reducing urban heat islands, physical heat stress and illness, and related mortality in cities.
However, urban forests and their associated environmental benefits are not equitably distributed across the state, as trees have been historically planted along race and class lines. Disadvantaged neighborhoods — including low-income communities, redlined communities of color, and communities facing higher rates of respiratory illness and other chronic diseases — often have disparities in tree canopy. In Rhode Island, policymakers have worked to mitigate this disparity by managing the development of tree canopies so that all residents can experience their benefits.
As part of the 61 actions included in Resilient Rhody — Rhode Island’s first comprehensive strategy to address the impacts of climate change — the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH), Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RI DEM), and nonprofit conservation organization American Forests collaborated to increase tree equity across Rhode Island. In 2020, American Forests piloted Tree Equity Scores in Rhode Island; Maricopa County, Arizona; and the San Francisco Bay Area. These scores measure how tree canopy aligns with income, employment, race, age, climate, and health factors using tree canopy cover, climate, demographic, and socioeconomic data. American Forests calculated these scores at the neighborhood level, aggregated them to the municipal level, and standardized them from 0 to 100, with 100 indicating full “tree equity.” In 2021, American Forests launched a Tree Equity Score tool for 150,000 neighborhoods and 486 metropolitan areas in the United States, including all urbanized areas. The tool allows users to compare scores between neighborhoods, generate detailed municipal reports, and view the multiple benefits (e.g., carbon sequestered, runoff avoided, rain intercepted) associated with achieving a specific Tree Equity Score.
American Forests also piloted a companion tool in Rhode Island, the Tree Equity Score Analyzer (TESA), which provides more detailed geographic information on tree canopy through a web-based map so that urban foresters, city managers, and community groups can identify and target areas for tree planting initiatives. For example, users of this tool can view tree canopy at the parcel level or create a custom area and apply filters for possible tree canopy, flood risk, or public/private ownership, in addition to other spatial and demographic variables. Users can also set a tree planting goal at the city, neighborhood, or parcel level — including type and number of trees to be planted — and create an impact report to view the associated environmental benefits.
To inform urban forestry initiatives in the state, American Forests collaborated with Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank, a financing hub for infrastructure improvements for municipalities, businesses, and homeowners in the state, to create the Rhode Island Tree Equity Funding, Financing and Policy Guide in 2020. This Guide provides information to help policymakers make the case for urban forestry in a funding, financing, or policy proposal; identify State and municipal funding and policy support mechanisms for urban forestry projects (including case studies); summarize challenges to implementing urban forestry work; highlight national mechanisms to support urban forestry (e.g., taxes and fees, grants and philanthropy, debt financing); describe the financing approaches most commonly utilized by Rhode Island municipalities; and provide a list of relevant funding and policy recommendations that have the potential to further tree equity in Rhode Island. This Guide can serve as a model to help other states identify the funding and policy support mechanisms best suited to advance their own tree equity goals.
Additionally, to spur tree planting progress in Rhode Island, American Forests has awarded a total of $143,000 in grant funding since 2021 through the Tree Planting for Climate Resilience and Human Health grant to plant trees in the Pawtucket/Central Falls Health Equity Zone (HEZ), a low-income area in Rhode Island experiencing poor health outcomes. Using TESA, this project will identify public and private sites in which to plant trees throughout the cities of Pawtucket and Central Falls.
With the development of these urban forestry tools and on-the-ground actions, Rhode Island will continue to adapt to climate change, advance climate justice, and improve public health in disadvantaged communities across the state.
How Did They Do It? |
Applicable Tools |
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Formed a Partnership. As part of the Resilient Rhody Initiative, the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH), the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RI DEM), and the nonprofit conservation organization American Forests formed a partnership to facilitate urban forestry initiatives across the state. |
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Developed Tree Equity Scores from a synthesis of canopy cover, climate, demographic, and socioeconomic data.
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Rhode Island's Tree Equity Score was developed by American Forests through an assessment of crucial demographic and environmental indicators. Users may search for any urbanized area’s Tree Equity Score from among 150,000 neighborhoods and 486 metropolitan areas in the United States: |
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Created an interactive planning tool that supports both policy- and project-level interventions to achieve Tree Equity. American Forests went beyond Tree Equity Scores to pilot a more comprehensive map-based tool, TESA, in Rhode Island. TESA provides additional information on tree canopy in neighborhoods and individual parcels of land to locate areas with the greatest need for trees, while considering climate change impacts. |
Rhode Island Tree Equity Score Analyzer (TESA): American Forests developed Rhode Island TESA to help stakeholders identify parcels, neighborhoods, or cities with tree canopy needs and enable them to view the associated benefits of specific tree planting goals, including those for climate adaptation and mitigation. |
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Awarded a total of $143,000 in grant funding to plant trees in the Pawtucket/Central Falls HEZ.
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Rhode Island Tree Equity Funding, Financing and Policy Guide was used to identify funding, financing, and policy mechanisms to further the state’s urban forestry goals. |
Similar Cases and More Information
To see how New York City has used urban forestry initiatives to address the increasing risk of heat events, see the New York City Adapts To Deal with Projected Increase of Heat Waves case study.
To view how Chicago has identified urban heat areas and adopted heat island reduction strategies using green infrastructure, see the Chicago, IL Uses Green Infrastructure to Reduce Extreme Heat case study.
- New York City Adapts To Deal with Projected Increase of Heat Waves
- Chicago, IL Uses Green Infrastructure to Reduce Extreme Heat
References
- Additional Grant Bringing More Trees to Pawtucket and Central Falls (The Valley Breeze)
- American Forests Awards First Tree Planting for Climate Resilience and Human Health Grant to Rhode Island Health Equity Zone (American Forests)
- American Forests Launches Nationwide Tree Equity Scores (American Forests)
- Rhode Island Urban Forests for Climate and Health Initiative (Rhode Island Department of Health)
- Trees for Climate and Health (Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management)
- Tree Inequity in Rhode Island is a Stark Problem (ecoRI News)
- Urban Forests and Climate Change (USDA Forest Service Climate Change Resource Center)