See where trees are needed most urgently in the Chicago region.
Use the map layers below and the combined interactive map to see your community’s tree canopy cover and how trees impact your neighborhood.
Trees improve quality of life, but their benefits are not enjoyed equally across the region. To identify where trees are needed most urgently, The Morton Arboretum’s Chicago Region Trees Initiative combined canopy cover, surface temperature, air quality, flood risk, health, and social vulnerability data into the map layers below.
Explore the Community Tree Canopy Summaries to view or download a summary of your community’s tree canopy coverage. Each report provides data showing the multiple benefits that trees provide people and compares those data to similar communities. The data and visualizations in each report can support efforts to protect trees and guide tree management plans for your community.
The Canopy Counts Program provides a simple and fun tool for residents to help their communities track trees and tree-ready spaces across the Chicago region, while learning more about the benefits provided by those trees. Information gathered through the program will help CRTI, your local government, and community organizations understand how best to care for trees so they provide the most benefits for our neighborhoods.
Oaks are a critical part of the Chicago region’s ecology. However, the region is down to 17% of the oak ecosystems that were here prior to European settlement in the early 1800s. The remaining oak ecosystems are often fragmented, which makes them more likely to be invaded by nonnative species. This map provides a guide for where oak ecosystems still exist and where buffers and corridors to improve ecological function can be formed to connect these fragments.
