Delaware County releases tree-canopy assessment showing net 2% loss from 2010–2022

Delaware County’s Office of Sustainability on Wednesday presented a countywide tree‑canopy assessment that finds about 43% of the county is currently covered by trees and that the county experienced a net canopy decline of roughly 2% between 2010 and 2022.

The assessment, commissioned under the county’s 2023 sustainability plan and paid for with a Commonwealth Financing Authority grant, used high‑resolution LiDAR, aerial imagery and land‑cover analysis performed by consultants (the University of Vermont and Save a Tree Consulting Group) to map existing canopy, vegetation that could become canopy, impervious surfaces that might be converted, and areas unsuitable for new canopy. The consultants provided data at four scales: hexagon grid, municipality, census tract and census block group.

The study reports about 117,000 acres in the county,…