Prioritization Methods
CanopyBloomington's main goal is to address equity issues in the city of Bloomington through tree cover. In order to address these issues, Canopy developed a map that ranks areas (both neighborhood and zones) from high to low priority.
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High priority neighborhoods have the largest proportion of high and very high priority planting acreage.
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Moderate priority neighborhoods have a moderate proportion of high and very high priority planting acreage.
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Low priority neighborhoods have a low proportion of high and very high priority planting acreage.
Variables Considered
The variables below are weighted by importance and are combined to create the above map of priority planting locations. Hover for more information on each metric!
URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT
Planting trees in high heat stress areas can reduce the amount of sunlight that is hitting impervious surfaces. This helps with a number of different factors including electricity costs and heat exposure. Areas in high heat stressed areas are given higher priority.
FLOODPLAIN
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Areas close to or in foodplains have a higher chance of flooding, runoff and standing water. Planting trees near or in floodplains can help alleviate this, so these areas have higher priority.
DISTANCE TO HARDSCAPE
Planting trees near existing impervious surfaces (hardscape) help decrease and improve the quality of water runoff. Areas in close proximity to hardscaped areas (buildings, roads, sidewalks, etc.) have higher priority.
DISTANCE TO CANOPY
Trees near existing canopy helps decrease forest fragmentation, so areas in close proximity to canopy patches have higher priority.
POPULATION DENSITY
Population density is used to assign higher priority to areas with more dense populations, so that benefits provided by trees can serve more individuals.
SLOPE
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Planting trees in areas that have sloped landscapes can be affected by runoff and erosion which can cause water pollution. Areas that have a percent rise from ground level are given higher priority.
HOUSEHOLD INCOME
Low income areas have historically experienced a lack of access to greenspace and poor canopy cover. Areas of lower household incomes are given higher priority.
EROSION
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Areas of higher erodibility have a higher planting priority. Trees help keep soil in place and reduce the amount of water pollution and runoff.
RACE
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Non-white populations have historically experienced a lack of access to greenspace and poor canopy cover. Areas with higher non-white populations are given higher priority.
SOIL PERMEABILITY
Low permeability areas are not able to absorb water in the soil as well as higher permeability areas. This can cause standing water and runoff, exacerbating water pollution. Planting in areas of low permeability helps increase permeability, so it has higher priority.
Bloomington Urban Tree and Canopy Map
Institutional Landholders vs. Neighborhoods Plantings
Anyone can request plantings from us! If you're a neighborhood, school, place of worship, non-profit, or other business in Bloomington, please use the following identification methods to find if your property is within a high, moderate, or low priority area.
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If your property is within a residential neighborhood boundary:
Use the priority raking levels for neighborhoods by checking the box on the Neighborhood_Prioirty layer on the map below to see our priority ranking levels. To search for your address, click the search icon in the top right corner.
If your property is outside of a residential neighborhood boundary:
Use the priority raking levels for zoning districts by checking the box for the Zoning_Priority layer on the map below. Zoning districts are the smallest geographic scale that the Bloomington canopy cover assessment was analyzed at. We use this geographic scale because it is more accurate than using larger scaled assessments, such as at the census tract level.