Trees are cool

It's easy to take for granted how important trees are to our everyday lives.

When was the last time you stopped to really appreciate the look, feel and smell of a tree in your local area?

Trees provide many benefits for our environment, health, economy and the community.

Through a partnership between state and local governments, new information on tree canopy cover across Adelaide is now available through the Urban Heat and Tree Mapping Viewer.

Council is using the new tree canopy maps along with our existing urban heat maps to target areas for new tree planting e.g. Greening Edwardstown.

Some key findings from the new tree canopy maps in the City of Marion include:

• 43% of the total tree canopy in our council area falls on private land (mainly residential land)
• 30% of the total tree canopy is managed by City of Marion
• 27% of council reserve land is already covered by tree canopy
• 12.5% of residential land is covered by tree canopy
• In total, 15% of the land area of the City of Marion is covered by trees
• In total, 24% of the area of metropolitan Adelaide is covered by trees

Our vision is to see our streets and parks lined with large healthy trees maximising shade, urban cooling and creating a habitat for birds and wildlife.

By 2040 we anticipate our tree canopy will exceed the State Government target of 30 percent tree canopy

We have planted over 30,000 trees across the city since 2018 and will continue to grow our urban forest with planting 3587 trees per year for the next 5 years

Each year we plant 15,000 local native trees, shrubs and grasses in reserves to create habitat and look after local biodiversity.

• Plant appropriate tree species in your yard and encourage others to do the same
• Look after existing trees by watering and monitoring
• Talk with friends, family and neighbours and why trees in your neighbourhood are important to you
• Join the Adopt a Tree program or a local environmental volunteer group