Re-planting Nashville’s Canopy

Getting the word out about Root Nashville is the most important way to achieve its goal of planting 500,000 trees in the city by 2050, says Meg Morgan, campaign manager for the initiative. Now in its fourth year, this ambitious public-private partnership is one of the largest environmental efforts ever pursued in Davidson County.

Growing the Initiative

Root Nashville had its origins in 2016, when the Livable Nashville Committee was convened. This group comprised community members and experts who looked at environmental quality and the general livability of Nashville. The goal was to make recommendations for initiatives that the city could lead to improve residents’ quality of life. Part of the resulting research found how much tree coverage Nashville had lost over the previous 20 years. When the group was confronted with this data, the tree-planting initiative was one of the projects that resulted.

The campaign to restore our city’s tree canopy made a leap after applying to Bloomberg Associates, a consulting group that helps cities nationwide tackle new, innovative projects. Nashville benefited from pro bono support for environmental sustainability, and the Root Nashville campaign took shape. Morgan explains, “As a partnership between the public and private sectors, Root Nashville isn’t a standalone organization; it’s a citywide effort that anyone can participate in.” The official launch of the campaign was October 3, 2018, with the initial goal of planting their first 5,000 trees by Earth Day 2019. 

Morgan notes a key figure in the goal: “94% of land in Davidson County is privately owned. This is an outsized contribution that residents can make towards restoring and maintaining Nashville’s canopy cover. The other 6% of park systems, schools and public right of ways for street trees is an important part to be overseen by the public sector, but it’s really important for us to concentrate effort on supporting the private residents, businesses, and churches that care for the majority of our city’s trees. So much of the city’s canopy is in people’s front and back yards.” 

Experienced Leadership 

The Cumberland River Compact is a co-leader of the campaign and works closely with Metro departments on the program. CRC was chosen to take this operational role after early conversations with other environmental nonprofits to identify the best fit in terms of experience and capacity to implement and oversee the project. The Compact oversees the health and quality of the Cumberland River and its tributaries, and tree planting is one of the best things to do to protect water quality. Those decades of experience offer know-how and capabilities that support the ongoing success of the initiative. 

A major aspect of CRC’s leadership role is to partner with other groups and individuals in the city as much as possible. The Root Nashville campaign is a big initiative with lots of participants and moving pieces to oversee, so the Cumberland River Compact and Metro Nashville coordinate the logistics collaboratively.

Both groups also share responsibility for securing funds for the tree-planting campaign. Metro Council recently supported those efforts with the passage of a bill that earmarks 1% of funds from building permits, grading permits and general obligation bonds for construction projects toward tree planting.  The creation of a dedicated fund for tree planting goes back to an agreement made early in the development of the Root Nashville campaign that the city would help support the costs of the project. Funds from the new ordinance are capped at $2.5 million annually and are to be distributed through Metro grants to “operational partners” like Root Nashville.

Achieving Tree Goals

At the time of this writing, during the fourth tree planting season of the campaign, 21,500 trees have been planted. Though that figure seems small in comparison to the eventual goal of 500,000 trees, Morgan notes that the number of trees planted per year has steadily increased. Root Nashville sets annual goals with partners, evaluating where we are and where we want to be at the end of the year. One of the most important ways of reaching the goal is by tracking down and connecting with tree planters in the community to make sure they know about the project and that they are adding their information to the tally. The tree plotter is the main way of capturing, maintaining and reporting on plantings.

As a friend, partner and advisory board member of the Root Nashville campaign, the Nashville Tree Conservation Corps adds its annual tree sales count towards the goal, as well as other NTCC initiatives like the Shelby Avenue Arboretum. In fact, anyone can contribute to the tree number for the campaign: every tree planted in Davidson County can increase the count. In addition to city government departments, this includes businesses, nonprofits, organizations and individual residents. If someone goes to a nursery on their own and plants a tree in their yard, they can register it with Root Nashville. 

Whether you purchase a tree from our tree sale, a local nursery, or plant a volunteer sapling, as Meg reminds us, “if you have a yard, you’re a steward of the environment, and there are many tangible things you can do, like plant trees and care for them.”