Greening Chesapeake

While trees alone won't solve all the woes of a modern city, they go a long way to making a City a more livable place.    Some key benefits: Flood Mitigation – Urban Trees “Flatten the Curve” by intercepting rainfall, increasing infiltration, and absorbing water.  Peak runoff rates are reduced and delayed.  And trees are significantly less expensive than engineered "BMPs" - Best Management Practices like retention ponds.   https://www.chesapeakequarterly.net/V07N2/side1/index.html Water Quality Improvement – Reducing stormwater runoff also directly improves water quality.  Reduced runoff carries less nutrients, fertilizers, sediment, and other pollutants helping us meet TMDL goals and improving health of our waterways. https://www3.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/nps_urban-facts_final.pdf Increased Economic Activity - Tree lined Streetscapes improve the appeal of a business district and positively impact visitors’ buying behavior.  More and more, in-store shop...

Kicking off this new blog for 2024 to work on the goal to green Chesapeake by increasing natural area - green spaces and blueways - across the City.   Steps include protecting existing tree canopy, encouraging protection of natural areas, and planting trees and native plants across the City on public, institutional, commercial, and residential properties.   Other key tenants to building a greener city include connectivity - enabling people to reach destinations safely by foot, bicycle, and public transit, not just automobiles - and adopting sustainable practices. Stay tuned for information about upcoming events, actions, and information related to Greening Chesapeake.