State of the Urban Forest 2025 provides update on urban canopy

Our first State of the Urban Forest report in 2023 outlined how our urban canopy was doing, the progress to achieve the goals of the Urban Forest Strategic Plan (UFSP), the work planned to continue to support and grow the urban canopy, and how our community can help.

Our new 2025 State of the Urban Forest reportprovides updates on the urban canopy (the layer of leaves and branches of trees that provide shade and cover), how it's either maintaining or trending downwards in different Boulder subcommunities and our progress to achieve the UFSP's goals.

In 2018, the UFSP set a goal to have a 16% urban canopy citywide. Due to a shift in the methodology for calculating the urban canopy we now know that number from 2018 is closer to 22%. This doesn't mean the actual tree canopy grew but rather where, when and how we measure it has changed.

The city's urban canopy is currently at 22%. The 2025 State of the Urban Forest report outlines why the urban canopy has stayed relatively the same.

The 2025 State of the Urban Forest Report, also includes:

• how Boulder Foresty is achieving the plan's goals
• where trees are planted in our public tree inventory map
• how action is needed from both the city and private landowners
• images contributed by community members, graphs and interactive maps.