CINCINNATI — For almost 40 years, Cincinnati Parks has been adding more trees to the city's 52 neighborhoods.
It's called the Fall ReLeaf Program, focusing on growing the canopy coverage of the city by giving away thousands of free trees in over 40 species.
Applications opened Saturday, Sept. 14, for 20 different neighborhoods. These neighborhoods — including Camp Washington, Queensgate, Over-the-Rhine and Corryville — were noted in a 2021 Tree Canopy Census as having below 40% tree canopy coverage, according to the city.
In addition to providing shade, more tree canopy coverage helps improve the impact of air pollution and the urban heat island effect.
Watch to learn about the project to get more trees planted across Cincinnati:
One of the program's sponsors is MadTree Brewing. I met with MadTree's VP of Experience and Impact, Rhiannon Hoeweler, to learn more about the collaboration between the city and the local brewing company.
"We will have 1,000 trees in the biergarten behind me, we'll light up the whole biergarten and all 1,000 of those trees will go to neighborhoods within Cincinnati," Hoeweler said.
Hoeweler told me that accommodations can be made for homes that don't have easy access to soil for trees.
"We'll be actually pulling concrete out of the ground and putting trees in, so just because there's concrete doesn't necessarily mean you can't get a tree in there," Hoeweler said.
One of the neighborhoods with a low amount of tree canopy is Camp Washington. The city's report said that the neighborhood only has 8% tree canopy coverage.
I visited the west side neighborhood and met with Maria Papakirk, owner of Camp Washington Chili.
"Trees just add that extra touch of beauty to any streetscape," Papakirk said.
The Camp Washington business owner told me that the neighborhood's industrial landscape does create some unique issues for adding greenery.
"There were so many more factories, even back in the day, so even though those factories may not exist here anymore, their empty lots do," Papakirk said.
Even though the ReLeaf program is exclusive to homeowners, according to Hoeweler, Papakirk said she has her own plans to add more foliage to the business's front lawn.
Applications for free trees are open for all Cincinnati residents Sept. 20 at 8 a.m. You have to sign up for a pick-up date and time when you apply. Click here for more details.
