ReLeaf Cedar Rapids: Let's Get Started

In a place historically called the “Emerald City” for its lush canopy, a “Tree City USA” whose very city seal is a picture of a tree, a powerful derecho ripped through Cedar Rapids, destroying two-thirds of the tree canopy. While houses, businesses, and schools have been repaired in the months that followed, the trees did not miraculously reappear. Sadly, many of the trees felled were the largest, most beautiful, and most cherished.

Such a catastrophic loss of tree canopy in a sizable American city is, quite literally, unprecedented. It is possible that no other weather event in modern history has killed so many city trees. Extraordinary challenges call for extraordinary responses, and the desire to be extraordinary motivated the ReLeaf Cedar Rapids plan.

Completed over a full year under the direction of the City and Trees Forever, the plan was created with a conviction that how we build back matters; that the simple replacement of all that was lost — hard as that will be — is not enough. Cedar Rapids has a real opportunity here, not just to restore its canopy, but to do so in a way that maximizes so many of the things that residents care about: neighborhood beauty, comfort, and resilience; supporting wildlife and limiting global warming; empowering young people and improving equity; and even helping to create community. Trees can do all these things if we do this right. Let’s get started.

2/3 of the City's tree canopy was destroyed in the derecho, resulting in a debris pile 50% larger than the Great Pyramid of Giza

Photograph by The Gazette

The ReLeaf Cedar Rapids Plan

This magazine is a condensed version of the ReLeaf Cedar Rapids plan. It includes articles, information, maps and summaries from the full ReLeaf Cedar Rapids plan. The full plan, with many additional resources, can be viewed at CityofCR.com/ReLeaf.

The ReLeaf Cedar Rapids plan was produced by Confluence, Inc. in partnership with Speck & Associates, lead planner, under the direction of Trees Forever and the City of Cedar Rapids. Design and illustrations for the ReLeaf plan by Chad Jewell Design.

The ReLeaf Cedar Rapids Planning Team

Sandi Fowler, City of Cedar Rapids

Shannon Ramsay, Trees Forever

Kiley Miller, Trees Forever

Jeff Speck, Speck & Associates

Patrick Alvord, Confluence Inc.

Denise Hurt, Confluence Inc.