City of Bloomington, IN | Climate Action Dashboard
© 2025
Maintaining ecosystem health is all about ensuring that the City of Bloomington’s local greenspaces and natural ecosystems are protected and maintained, even as the climate in the region begins to change.
One of the best ways to do this is to increase the amount of tree canopy—that is, the percentage of ground covered by trees—throughout the City. Bloomington has partnered with local nonprofit organizations to help tackle this problem and has several projects related to this work planned in 2024.
This work is informed by the 2019 Urban Tree Canopy Assessment that the City conducted in collaboration with Davey Resource Group, a Midwestern sustainability consultant.
Goal G 1. Increase the quantity and quality of greenspace within the community.
Metrics
Percentage of urban tree canopy coverage
As of 1/1/2025
Number of youth volunteers for the Tree Tender Program
As of 1/1/2025
Adaptation & Resilience
Tree canopy coverage plays an important role in climate adaptation and resilience by cooling surface and air temperatures. Increased urban tree canopy directly reduces heat impacts through shading and transpiration cooling, helping to mitigate urban heat islands which are expected to increase with climate change.
Preventative Public Health
An extensive tree canopy improves public health preventatively by filtering air pollutants and supplying cooling shade, which reduces other climate-related health risks like respiratory illness and heat impacts that place burdens on the health system. Research shows that more street trees and neighborhood vegetation correlate with improved health outcomes for local residents.
| Action | ||
|---|---|---|
 | Improve tree canopy and ground coverage throughout the City | |
 | Maintain the health of trees to improve urban greenspaces | |
 | Improve the connectivity and functionality of greenspaces within the City |
