The City of Atlanta set a goal in 2023 to have a tree canopy of 50 percent.
At the time, the Atlanta City Council said the city’s tree canopy “is a well-recognized integral part of the City’s identity, as the city is frequently described as the ‘City in the Forest.’”
It went on to cite a 2018 study that showed the canopy cover at 46.5 percent, saying the goal of 50 percent was within reach.
Shortly after, the City of Atlanta commissioned a new assessment (based on 2023 data) from Georgia Tech’s Center for Urban Resilience and Analytics. The Center had conducted the previous tree canopy studies for the city.
Based on 2023 data, Atlanta’s tree canopy is now at 45.5 percent, a significant drop from 47.9 percent in 2008.
Although the city has had the findings of the report for two years, there has been no public release of the study.
SaportaReport received a copy of the report through an indirect channel thanks to a couple of city council members who had shared it with interested citizens.
“The findings are certainly concerning,” Councilmember Jason Dozier, who sponsored the 2023 resolution, wrote in a text. “My resolution was intended to create a clear policy direction and hold the City accountable for reversing a trend that had been developing over many years and to also serve as a North Star for the updates to the Tree Protection Ordinance.”
Atlanta’s history with tree protection ordinances is complicated, to say the very least. Repeated efforts to strengthen the tree ordinance have fallen short as the development community has fought for its ability to cut down trees.
A revision to the tree ordinance passed a year ago that disappointed many tree advocates. But the city promised to revisit the ordinance along with the passage of a new zoning ordinance, which currently is on the table.
“It’s time to talk about it,” said Courtney English, chief of staff for the City of Atlanta, in a brief interview at the Let’s Talk Transit event on July 30. “We’re rewriting the zoning ordinance, and we are trying to make sure that the zoning code and the tree ordinance talk to each other.”
English said the city is trying to figure out how to preserve trees and the city’s tree canopy while accommodating tremendous growth and additional housing.
“We believe it is possible,” English said. “The mayor has stated it is important to him and important to the city. We’re in the process of making all the pieces work together. Atlanta is a city in a forest.”
City Councilman Matt Westmoreland, who is chair of the Community Development/Human Services Committee, received a copy of the report months ago. But repeated efforts to get the city to present the report to the committee failed.
“It has been frustrating,” Westmoreland said in an interview. “The study was done two years ago. When I asked for it in December, I got it in 24 hours. When I asked the city to present, I couldn’t get an answer, so I asked the (Georgia Tech) professor myself. I wanted it out in the open.”
On Aug. 11 at 1:30 p.m., the committee will hear from Tony Giarrusso, the associate director of the center, who wrote the report. Westmoreland said the city’s chief arborist, David Zaparanick, will speak on behalf of the city.
“The report confirms Atlanta’s tree canopy has declined by over 2 percent,” Greg Levine, executive director of Trees Atlanta, said in a statement. “This is a serious concern, especially given the data is already a few years old. It also moves further from the city’s goal of 50 percent tree canopy coverage; a target Trees Atlanta strongly supports and works towards.”
The city’s Department of Planning was asked to respond to the report and why it has taken so long for it to become public. The city’s response was received after deadline, so it is published in full at the end of this column.
Westmoreland said he believes the revisions to the city’s Tree Protection Ordinance (TPO) passed in June 2025 were in the direction of protecting trees.
But tree advocates feel otherwise.
Chet Tisdale, who serves on the city’s Tree Conservation Commission, said the revised ordinance allows more clear-cutting and “doesn’t protect a single tree.”
Greg Levine, executive director of Trees Atlanta, was asked to comment about the new tree canopy report. He did not respond by deadline. This column will be updated with a note at the bottom when he responds.
It’s also worth noting the Council for Quality Growth, which represents developers, declared victory in a report out to its members after the June passage of the revised TPO.
“This version removed all preservation requirements, not only for commercial, industrial and multifamily, which were added on May 1, but also the original single-family preservation standards from the December 2024 draft,” the report stated.
The Council for Quality Growth also celebrated a reduction in the “recompense rate” that developers must pay the city when they cut down a tree.
The organization concluded its message to members by thanking the City of Atlanta for “engaging and listening to the concerns of the development community on this incredibly important topic, and we look forward to continuing to work with the city throughout the Zoning 2.0 process in the coming months.”
Michael Paris, CEO of the Council for Quality Growth, declined to comment on the new tree canopy numbers, saying he had not had a chance to review the Georgia Tech report.
City Council leaders, however, are paying close attention.
“Our tree canopy is one of Atlanta’s most valuable assets,” Dozier said. “It affects everything from stormwater management and air quality to public health, urban heat and neighborhood livability. If the latest analysis shows our canopy continues to decline, then it underscores the urgency of accelerating preservation and replacement.”
Dozier went on to say the city adopted the revised TPO to save trees and expand the city’s tree canopy.
“I’m committed to ensure our policy efforts are aligned towards that goal,” he said.
According to the report, the City of Atlanta had a net loss of 780 acres of tree canopy between 2018 and 2023. That amounts to a loss of .43 acres a day.
“The gap between quality canopy gain and overall loss is widening,” the report stated. “Loss is outpacing gain.”
The report recommended the city modify the zoning code to give incentives or implement requirements to save trees. It also provided ideas on how the city could increase its canopy, such as planting trees on city-owned land.
Levine said reaching the 50 percent goal will take effort from every level. “Individual homeowners can plant more trees on their own property,” he said. “The city can continue and accelerate the purchase of forested land to be permanently protected like Lake Charlotte Nature Preserve. And new preservation standards should be created in the third version of TPO updates to help protect trees in future developments. The ‘City in the Forest’ has a challenge, and it will take the city, residents, development community, and non-profits working together to turn it around.”
It is not known how much more of Atlanta’s tree canopy has been lost since 2023. The city usually commissions a tree canopy report every five years.
For years, Atlanta has heralded its being a city in the forest, giving people the impression that it has the most extensive tree canopy in the country among major cities. But that bragging point is now in jeopardy.
Charlotte also has a goal to have a 50 percent tree canopy (by 2050) from the current 47 percent, more than Atlanta’s 45.5 percent in 2023. Also, Charlotte has adopted a multi-layered approach to increase its tree canopy. “
Charlotte is killing us now,” said Tisdale, hoping to wake up the competitive spirit in Atlanta. “Folks in Charlotte are calling themselves the City of Trees.”
Then Tisdale summarized his thoughts by saying: “Atlantans should be outraged by this report because it shows we are going backwards when we should be going forwards.”
The Atlanta Department of City Planning’s response to SaportaReport’s questions:
What are the Department of Planning’s thoughts on having a goal of 50 percent tree canopy in Atlanta?
The Department of City Planning believes that a goal of 50 percent tree canopy coverage provides an aspirational and achievable target to guide the development of tree-related policies and programs while serving as a benchmark for measuring their effectiveness over time.
What are your reactions to the results in the 2024 report prepared for the city by Georgia Tech?
The report provides an important snapshot of current conditions and reinforces the need for sustained, data-driven action. While the documented canopy loss is concerning, it is not insurmountable. The Department remains committed to advancing a comprehensive strategy centered on preservation, planting, strategic forested land acquisition, and effective policy and regulatory tools to increase tree canopy over time and move Atlanta toward its long-term canopy goal.
Why did the city not publicly release the report?
The report’s findings require important technical context to be interpreted accurately. Tree canopy change is more nuanced than a single total canopy figure, and the report is one of several technical resources informing initiatives such as Plan A and ATL Zoning 2.0 as we work toward the City’s goal of 50 percent tree canopy coverage.
What plans do the city, ie: the planning department, have to reverse this trend? Obviously the tree ordinances that we have are not protecting our tree canopy. What can we do?
Protecting and expanding Atlanta’s tree canopy requires a comprehensive approach that combines stronger regulations, strategic land conservation, improved planning, incentives for preservation and replanting, and long-term investment. The Department of City Planning is advancing that approach through several key initiatives, including:
- Tree Protection Ordinance (TPO) Phase III – Developing additional tree preservation standards to strengthen existing regulations.
- Plan A – Embedding tree preservation and canopy expansion into Atlanta’s long-term growth and development strategy.
- ATL Zoning 2.0 – Modernizing zoning regulations to better integrate tree conservation into land use planning.
- Urban Forestry Master Plan – Establishing a comprehensive framework for managing, protecting, and expanding Atlanta’s urban forest.
- Smart Tree Inventory Program – Evaluating every public right-of-way tree and identifying priority planting locations to maximize canopy growth.
- Strategic Land Acquisition – Using Tree Trust Fund resources and partnerships, including with The Conservation Fund, to protect existing forests and expand conservation lands. To date, the City has partnered to protect nearly 500 acres of our largest forests. The Department of Parks and Recreation is working toward the ActivateATL goal of acquiring 2,750 acres of parkland by 2032, at least half of which will be canopied.
- Tree Professional Registry – Established a registry of qualified tree professionals to promote high-quality tree care and stewardship.
- Strengthening Incentives and Mitigation – Increasing recompense to better reflect the cost of replacing trees. The recent ordinance update also increased incentives, including 25 percent more recompense credit for trees planted on private property.
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