Just like Hannibal on
The A Team, we love it when a plan comes together!
Team members behind the creation of the
Urban Forest Master Plan gathered on Thursday, March 21, 2024, at Dr. Walter Hardy Park to celebrate the completion of the UFMP and talk about implementing the multi-faceted plan.
The City’s Urban Forester Kasey Krouse and Mayor Kincannon addressed the crowd on the chilly morning, thanking the many partners who helped create the plan.
What makes the Urban Forest Master Plan a #KnoxvilleJobWellDone is the partnerships between the
City of Knoxville, its
Urban Forestry Team, the
City's Tree Board,
Trees Knoxville,
Knoxville Utilities Board, and the
University of Tennessee. We also count among those partners the dozens of subject-experts from the community who answered surveys and put their heads together at multiple early-morning meetings to come up with ideas pertaining to Knoxville’s urban tree canopy.
That collaboration and creation process truly deserved a celebration complete with coffee and doughnuts to fuel the great amount of work ahead during the implementation phase, which is outlined in the plan itself.
In 2021, the
City’s Urban Forestry Division oversaw a first-ever comprehensive canopy assessment. More than 24,000 acres of tree cover in Knoxville – or 38 percent of the total land area.
However, the canopy decreased by 732 acres over a decade, mostly on private property. By implementing this Master Plan, we will increase the tree canopy from 38 to 40 percent by 2040! And we will do it strategically and equitably.
Lots of data, research and public input helped create the plan. The next step is action.
"We all benefit from the urban forest, and we all share in the responsibility for its care." That statement from the UFMP introduces the
Implementation Table and list of strategies identified to lead to success.
Strategy 1 is building capacity in Knoxville -- a step that begins with the formation of an implementation team.
Consider it done!
Members of the implementation team are listed below, and several are pictured above:
•
Dan Stienoff, Chair of City of Knoxville Tree Board
•
Tom Welborn, Trees Knoxville and North Hills Garden Club
•
Bethany Morris, University of Tennessee
•
Elaine Reed, Knoxville Utilities Board
•
Chad Weth, Public Service Department, Director
•
Debbie Sharp, Office of Neighborhood Empowerment, Coordinator
•
Bryon O’Conner, 4th and Gill Neighborhood
•
Cheryl Ball, Chief Policy Officer, City of Knoxville
•
Lee Rumble, University of Tennessee Extension
•
Charles Kwit, University of Tennessee
•
Khann Chov, United Way
•
Charlotte Rodina, Beardsley Farm
•
Bob Graves, East Tennessee American Society of Landscape Architects
•
Jessica Rodocker, Keep Knoxville Beautiful
•
Kasey Krouse, City of Knoxville, Urban Forester
•
Melissa Hinten, Trees Knoxville Executive Director
•
Vice Mayor Tommy Smith, City Council Member
•
Kayla Stewart, City of Knoxville Tree Board
•
Sophie Carter, Trees Knoxville
•
Karen Beurerlien, Trees Knoxville Board of Directors
•
Jessie Hillman, Knoxville Knox-County Planning
•
Dale Madden, Chair Trees Knoxville
How can you be a part of the implementation of the Urban Forest Master Plan? Follow Trees Knoxville on
Facebook and visit their
website to sign up for their monthly email newsletter, the Leaflet.