City of Charlotte wants locals to request free tree plantings

CHARLOTTE — Growing and maintaining its tree canopy is one of the best heat mitigation strategies available to the city of Charlotte. The city is working to plant 800 trees a year and is aiming for 50% canopy coverage by 2050.

To expand the planting effort, the city has opened up a request portal for any resident to apply to see if a free tree can be planted near them.

As a municipal arborist, Ryan Mathes explains that public trees in the city right of way, typically between the sidewalks and the street, not only make the city greener but also cooler.

“They produce a lot of shade for us. They also reduce energy costs for homeowners,” he said.

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Dimple Ajmera, an at-large city councilmember, said the city has been prioritizing its planting strategies to try and equalize the tree canopy across the city.

“We need to plant more trees, especially in areas where they have not enjoyed a traditionally rich tree canopy, especially along the corridors of opportunity,” she said.

Landscape management, which handles tree planting and care within the city limits, can’t be everywhere, though.

That’s why the city launched a platform for any resident to request a tree planting on city property wherever they see a need.

“If there is a city right of way in front of their home, where they feel that there is a tree that could go there, you can request it; it’s pretty easy,” Ajmera said. “And the landscape management team will take it from there.”

Mathes said his team looks at the requests and determines, based on what’s around that area, what kind of tree would work best.

“We try to make sure that we’re using small maturing trees that are growing up under power lines or larger maturing trees that are in areas that don’t have any overhead power lines or utilities like that,” he said.

On top of planting new trees, Mathes said landscape management is also focused on maintaining the canopy that we have. That means answering calls to keep public trees pruned and healthy and providing advice to keep their own trees thriving on private land.