Parks & Urban Forestry

In our mission statement, we have dedicated ourselves to "enriching the quality of life for all by ensuring the management and maintenance of the City's parks, playgrounds, City beaches, the urban forest and City owned cemeteries." We touch the daily lives of commuters who drive our parkways, children who play in parks and school grounds, amateur athletes competing on over 100 athletic fields, and residents who say that tree-lined streets are the thing they like best about Norfolk. We protect waterways and ensure that landscaping is not forgotten during the construction of new buildings, parking lots, and highways. We advocate, design, construct, manage and grow vegetation, which helps to make Norfolk a better place in which to live. We believe the value of life to be infinite and subscribe to the social principles of integrity, honesty, good humor, respect, dignity, professionalism, trust, compassion, responsibility, morality and customer focus for ourselves, our co-workers and our customers. We accept the Norfolk Values Blue Book.

DEPARTMENT PROGRAMS & CORE SERVICES:

Landscape Services - Creating, preserving and protecting parks and other outdoor public areas for aesthetics, recreation, education and conservation.

Urban Forestry - Planting, protecting and maintaining the city's trees for aesthetics, environmental conservation and livability of neighborhoods.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Parks & Urban Forestry office 757-823-4023


2009 URBAN TREE CANOPY REPORT:

In 2009, the City of Norfolk took part in a grant-based Urban Tree Canopy (UTC) study through the Virginia Department of Forestry, in partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Program.  It combined aerial photography with geographical informational systems (GIS) technology to obtain the current percentage of tree canopy coverage within Norfolk’s city limits.

UTC is defined as the layer of leaves, branches, and stems of trees that cover the ground when viewed from above. Urban tree canopy provides many benefits to communities, including improving water quality, conserving energy, lowering city temperatures, reducing air pollution, enhancing property values, providing wildlife habitat, facilitating social and educational opportunities, and providing aesthetic benefits.

American Forests, a nonprofit conservation organization that aims to protect, restore and enhance the capitol of trees and forests, advocates that U.S. cities east of the Mississippi River should have 40% tree coverage.

According to the study, Norfolk’s UTC is 26% and is similar to Leesburg, Manassas and Winchester, which are all at 27%, yet are not as urbanized as Norfolk.  When the bodies of water included in Norfolk’s city limits are removed from the study area, the UTC jumps to 33% coverage—very close to the 40% recommendation in this region.

The grant that funded this study requires the City of Norfolk to set a percentage goal for increase in the canopy coverage and report again, using the same method, in five years.  Staff is currently in the process of establishing a methodology to determine this increase. 

The full report is available here.