City of Mitcham’s tree canopy has increased by just over 7 per cent in four years, according to the latest urban heat and canopy mapping data released by Green Adelaide.
According to the study, 39.77% of the City of Mitcham Council area is covered by tree canopy, at over 30 million square metres, up from 32.32% in 2018-19.
City of Mitcham’s reserves have the highest canopy coverage of the Council area at 55.5%.
City of Mitcham Mayor Dr Heather Holmes-Ross said the results reflected Council’s commitment to increasing its canopy under its Tree Strategy 2016-25.
“We are proud of our efforts to increase our tree canopy so that all our residents can enjoy a cooler, greener city for generations to come.”
The 2022 data capture shows that overall, Adelaide’s tree canopy increased by nearly 4% since 2018-19.
Approximately 17% of metropolitan Adelaide is covered in tree canopy, or 271,000,000 square metres – equivalent to about 13,000 times the size of Adelaide Oval.
Green Adelaide has reported that despite the overall increase, there are localised areas of considerable loss. Canopy loss is generally noticed in residential areas where there is high demand for land for development and along some major arterial roads which have undergone infrastructure upgrades.
Green Adelaide Presiding Member Professor Chris Daniels said that this new data would help prioritise practical urban greening action.
“Adelaide is still a long way off of achieving 30% tree canopy cover, which is the widely accepted target for urban areas,” Professor Daniels said.
“This has been a fantastic collaboration with all of Adelaide’s metropolitan councils, and it gives us a single point of truth to guide our greening initiatives, particularly the state’s first ever Urban Greening Strategy, which is soon to be released for public consultation.”
The 2022 tree canopy data capture is a partnership between Green Adelaide, other state government agencies and 18 councils across Adelaide to map tree canopy, green cover, built environment and urban heat islands.
Under its Tree Strategy 2016-25, City of Mitcham has increased its tree planting program to 1,800 trees annually and has implemented measures such as increased street tree audits and accelerated tree replacement program.
For the past five years, City of Mitcham has been recognised as a Tree City of the World by the Arbor Day Foundation for its commitment to its urban forest.