Our Ōtautahi-Christchurch Urban Forest Plan provides a long-term vision and strategy to maximise the health and sustainability of the city’s urban trees and forests and the benefits we receive from them.
Christchurch is a green city with a resilient, sustainable and healthy environment where a mix of native and exotic plant communities reinforce the Garden City identity and supports local biodiversity.
Trees provide a range of social, environmental, cultural ecological and economic benefits and services that enrich the quality of urban life:
Our Urban Forest Plan sets out how we will grow our tree canopy and sustain a thriving urban forest of healthy, diverse and resilient trees. It sets our direction and priority for planting, nurturing and protecting our city’s trees for now and the future.
This plan explains how we’ll increase our urban forest and achieve its four goals:
The plan outlines a range of actions we need to take to achieve these goals. These actions will be funded through the Council’s annual and long term planning processes.
Read the Ōtautahi-Christchurch Urban Forest Plan 2023 [PDF, 4.2 MB].
Canopy cover is used as a measure to determine the amount of land which is covered by trees.
This is done through the use of aerial photography and light detection and ranging (LiDar).
Christchurch City Council has commissioned two surveys to date.
One based on aerial imagery taken in 2015/2016 and the second in 2018/2019:
Use the Otautahi-Christchurch ecosystem map to find information about the soil types and historic indigenous vegetation of the city.
This resource is useful for both backyard planting, school projects and community planting projects.