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Canopy assessment finds roughly 30% decline over 30 years, consultant tells Poulsbo Tree Board
Summary
A Western Washington University consultant presented a canopy and heat-map report to the Poulsbo Tree Board, identifying census tracts C, D and E as priority zones and recommending planting, invasive-species control and design interventions to reduce heat islands.
Chelsea, a presenter working with the canopy study team, told the Poulsbo Tree Board that the city’s overall tree canopy has changed substantially. "We found that canopy cover has decreased about 30% over the last 30 years," she said, and showed heat maps that she said correlate higher surface temperatures with lower canopy cover in several neighborhoods.
The presentation included maps, hazard-tree pins and invasive-species markers; Chelsea said interns collected geolocated data and that inventory files were delivered to a staff member for conversion to CSV. Board members pressed on what the data do — and do not — show: one member noted canopy cover appears to have increased in some years and asked whether changes reflect new trees growing larger versus net gains in tree counts. The board discussed tradeoffs between addressing city-owned sites first and how private-property removals — outside the report’s public-land focus — may account for a large share of canopy loss.
Chelsea offered a menu of potential interventions flagged in the report, including prioritized plantings in tracts C, D and E, planting along a major highway to mitigate heat, invasive-species removal and pilot green-roof or carport-planting demonstrations. She recommended follow-up work with planning staff and noted some design or ordinance changes to affect private development would require council action.
