Replanting Our Streets

Almost every street in Cedar Rapids lost a tree to the derecho. Many lost many, and some lost them all. To address some of the large gaps that now exist between surviving street trees and move toward the goal of a canopy that covers 30 percent of the land area in Cedar Rapids, the City will use tighter spacing when planting.

For large-species trees, gaps will be filled with trees that are spaced 30 feet on average with no gap greater than 40 feet or less than 25 feet.

For small-species trees beneath utilities, gaps will be filled with trees that are spaced 20 feet on average with no gap greater than 25 feet or less than 15 feet.

SPECIAL PLACES

All streets matter, but some provide more opportunity than others for impactful replanting. Downtown streets, where most people walk but where the most challenges to planting can be found, and gateway corridors, where new rows of trees can have the most impact, are addressed in the ReLeaf Plan.

> Find a map identifying principal Gateway Corridors and plans for planting downtown streets on pages 70–72 of the plan at CityofCR.com/ReLeaf.

Streets of Character

Most of the streets in Cedar Rapids hold a variety of trees. One goal of the plan is to establish local character with a single species in places where that is possible. The strategy will be applied to locations where a consistent species can be planted for a distance of 200 feet or more, which is a little less than a one-minute walk. The City will look for stretches of streets that meet the requirement to plant rows of similar or similar appearing trees. In cases where a block is dominated by a tree that is not on the ReLeaf Tree List, like an ash or maple, the street could be planted with a species on the list that resembles the dominant species in shape and color. Some streets considered for Streets of Character planting are shown on the map below.

Streets of Character

View detailed map with key in the Appendices section of CityofCR.com/Releaf

View of the interactive mapping program

TRACK PROGRESS

An interactive mapping program has been created to allow residents to search their street address to determine where it falls on the priority list. As work continues, the map will be expanded to allow residents to determine when planting efforts are scheduled on their street. This tool will also track the progress made in street planting over the years of the plan.

> Find the tool at CityofCR.com/ReLeaf.

COMING SOON: NEIGHBORWOODS

> Find out about the Neighborwoods program in the full ReLeaf Cedar Rapids plan at CityofCR.com/ReLeaf.