A Market Analysis of New York Restoration Project’s Tree Giveaway Program, Spring 2008—Fall 2013

How NYRP’s Tree Giveaway Program Works

Project Background The goal of this project is to analyze New York Restoration Project’s (NYRP) Tree Giveaway Program. This report is motivated by the fol-lowing questions: 1. Where were NYRP’s giveaway trees planted? 2. Who participated in the tree giveaway program? 3. Does participation in giveaways vary by available space? 4. Are there seasonal or annual variations? 5. Where are opportunities for the tree giveaway program to im-

prove and grow New York City’s (NYC) urban forest?

Geodemography Geodemographic market segmentation is the process of classifying neighborhoods into categories based on a combination of demo-graphic, socioeconomic and lifestyle characteristics. These useful categories do not correspond neatly to a single characteristic such as race/ethnicity, or the age distribution within a neighborhood. In-stead, each market segment describes a range of useful traits among people clustered in similar geographical locations, such as consumer behaviors, consumer preferences and lifestyles. This analysis uses Environmental Systems Research Institute’s (ESRI) Tapestry Segmen-tation system, which includes 65 market segments that are consoli-dated into LifeMode and Urbanization Groups to provide profiles at the US census block level (ESRI 2010). Figure 2 shows how these cate-gories are distributed across the city.

NYRP helps establish and steward NYC’s urban forest through several programs. The tree giveaway program is currently NYRP’s most ro-bust program for planting trees as the private partner for the city’s MillionTreesNYC initiative. NYRP partners with dozens of community groups in all 5 boroughs to provide trees at no cost to NYC residents through the tree giveaway program. Residents are asked to register in advance to reserve a tree, and at least 25% of all available trees at each event are available on a first come, first served basis. The givea-way program began in the spring of 2008, and gave away nearly 700 trees that year. The tree giveaway effort grew and nearly doubled the number of trees NYRP provided community members in its second year, and has been growing rapidly since. In 2013, more than 9,200 trees found new homes in New York City; in 2014, the number of trees given away by NYRP’s tree giveaway program is projected to increase to 15,000 (Figure 1a). Between 2008 and 2013, NYRP provid-ed 22,649 trees to NYC residents in all 5 boroughs (Figure 1b).

Why Tree Canopy is Important Tree canopy (TC) is the layer of leaves, branches, and stems of trees that cover the ground when viewed from above. Tree canopy pro-vides many benefits to communities, improving water quality, saving energy, lowering summer temperatures, reducing air pollution, en-hancing property values, providing wildlife habitat, facilitating social and educational opportunities, and providing aesthetic benefits (ACTrees 2011). Through the establishment of a canopy increase goal from a baseline of 24% canopy cover to 30% canopy cover in PlaNYC’s MillionTreesNYC initiative (Grove et al 2006), NYRP is devel-oping the city’s green infrastructure in partnership with New York City Department of Parks and Recreation by growing the urban forest on private properties. This market analysis examines where trees are planted, who participates in NYRP’s tree giveaway program, and as-sesses canopy growth opportunities in NYC’s various geodemograph-ic market segments.

Figure 1a. The tree giveaway program began in 2008 and has grown rapidly.

Figure 1b. The map shows the locations of plantings across all 5 bor-

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rees

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Figure 2. The trees provided by NYRP in Brooklyn (a), Queens (b) and Staten Island (c) displays the intensity of efforts in those areas . Metropolis and Global Roots are the most common Tapestry LifeMode market segments in New York City (d), and the map shows where households in each market segment are located (e).

The giveaway program works in all five boroughs to reach a diversity of residents. Figure 2 highlights locations in Brooklyn (a), Queens (b) and Staten Island (c). New York City is comprised of 9 LifeMode Groups in the Tapestry database (d). Together households in Upscale Avenues, Metropolis, and Solo Acts comprise 46% of the city. Nearly 28% of the households in New York City are classified as Global Roots. More infor-mation about residents in all LifeMode Groups can be found here: http://www.esri.com/library/brochures/pdfs/tapestry-segmentation.pdf

d The quantitative distribution of New York City’s household LifeMode Groups

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b

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Tapestry LifeMode Groups in NYC

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Key Terms Residential Tree Canopy For every residential property the amount of existing tree canopy, possible tree canopy,

and not suitable areas were calculated within each LifeMode Group (Figure 3) and Tapes-

try Segment (Figure 4). Tapestry Segments are more granular categories nested within

LifeMode Groups. Canopy calculations were made possible with the combination of NYC’s

land use, geographic data and tax data called MapPLUTO (NYC Open Data 2013), and the

6-inch land cover map created by the Spatial Analysis Lab at the University of Vermont

(MacFadden et al 2012). All market segments have substantial opportunities for the es-

tablishment of additional tree canopy.

Figure 4: Existing tree canopy, possible tree canopy and areas not suitable for tree canopy on residential land in NYC per Tapestry Seg ment.

Tree Canopy: Tree canopy is the layer of leaves, branches, and stems of trees that cover the ground when viewed from above. Land Cover: Physical features on the earth mapped from aerial or satellite imagery, such as trees, grass, water, and impervious surfaces. Existing TC: The amount of urban tree canopy present when viewed from above using aerial or satellite imagery. Impervious Possible TC: Asphalt or concrete surfaces, excluding roads and buildings, which are theoretically available for the establishment of tree canopy. Vegetated Possible TC: Grass or shrub area that is theoretically available for the establishment of tree canopy. Not Suitable: Areas where it is highly unlikely that new tree canopy could be established (primarily buildings and roads).

Figure 3: Existing tree canopy, possible tree canopy and areas not suitable for tree canopy on residential land in New York City per LifeMode Group.

Spatial Analyses with Tapestry Addresses representing tree planting sites were converted to points using a geographic information system (GIS), or computer mapping software. These points were counted within each market segment as defined by ESRI’s Tapestry Segmentation system. Giveaways were analyzed within both levels of categories: LifeMode Groups and Segments.

Figure 6: Differences in participation is more variable within Tapestry Segments compared to LifeMode Groups (Figure 5). Participation appears higher in the Spring. Low participation in one season is frequently offset by higher participation in the other season.

Figure 5: Participation in the giveaway is fairly equitable with respect to the different types of LifeMode groups in New York City. Participation is near the hori-zontal one line in most cases. The apparently high participation among Scholars & and Patriots is attributable to low sample size for that LIfeMode group.

Odds Ratio Analyses An odds ratio is a measure of association where a value of one indicates no disproportionate effect in a single seg-ment or LifeMode Group. Odds ratios greater than one indicate a higher odds of occurrence, and a value less than one means there is a lower odds. In these analyses, each market segment represents a fraction of all households in New York City. The number of giveaway trees was multiplied by that fraction to create an expected value for each market segment. Then the actual fraction of trees provided to community members in each segment was divided by the expected value to create an odds ratio. The expected value represents a scenario where all trees are distributed equitably with respect to market segment types and their distribution. For example, Upscale Avenues comprise about 10% of all households. If 10% of the trees went to this market segment, the odds ratio would equal 1. This is because 10% of households received 10% of the Trees. Figure 5 shows the odds ratios for all of NYRP’s giveaway trees, by combining the distribution of households (Figure 2d), with the recently mapped trees (Figure 1b).

ACTrees (2012) Benefits of Trees and Urban Forests - Alliance for Community Trees. ESRI (2010) Tapestry Segmentation Reference Guide - Esri. Grove JM, O'Neil-Dunne J, Pelletier K, Nowak D, Walton J (2006) A report on New York City's present and possible urban tree canopy: Prepared for Fiona Watt, Chief of the Division of Forestry and Horti-culture New York Department of Parks and Recreation, USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station. MacFaden, S. W., O’Neil-Dunne, J. P. M., Royar, A. R., Lu, J. W. T., & Rundle, A. G. (2012) High-resolution tree canopy mapping for New York City using LIDAR and object-based image analysis. Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, 6. doi:10.1117/1.JRS.6.063567 NYC Open Data (2013) Share “MapPLUTO” – NYC Open Data, Socrata.

References

Conclusions

Dexter H. Locke MESc., Mike Mitchell, Claire Turner and John Douglas For additional information see: http://www.nyrp.org/Greening_Sustainability/MillionTrees/Tree_Giveaways Questions about this report can be addressed to: dexter.locke@gmail.com and mmitchell@nyrp.org

Prepared by:

There are substantial opportunities for increasing tree canopy across all LifeMode Groups. NYRP’s giveaway trees were widely distributed across the city over the past 6 years (Figure 1a), concentrated in the northern parts of Brooklyn, Staten Island and Manhattan, the north-west and southeast parts of the Bronx, and broadly distributed across Queens with the highest concentrations in the northwest parts of Queens and the Rockaways (Figure 1b). The possible tree canopy as a percentage of residential land in LifeMode Groups ranges from 28% (Solo Acts) to 56% (Traditional Living) (Figure 3). Giveaway trees es-pecially reached areas with low existing canopy and high possible canopy. For example, the market segments NeWest Residents, Inner City Tenants, and Silver and Gold have relatively low canopy, high possible canopy and above average participation rates (Figure 6). Households in the Laptops and Lattes, Top Rung, Inner City Tenants, and Metro Renter’s market segments have the least possible tree canopy. Participation rates were below average in both spring and fall sea-sons in a similar array of market segments including Metro Renters, Laptops and Lattes, High Rise Renters and Urban Melting Pot. Possi-ble tree canopy on residential land in those market segments is be-low 30% (Figure 4). At the LifeMode level, participation in the tree giveaway program was fairly equitably distributed with respect to the proportion of households in each LifeMode Group (Figure 5), and participation rates in Family Portrait, Global Roots, and High Society LifeMode Groups grew steadily each year (Figure 7). Participation rates in Family Portrait, Global Roots, and High Society LifeMode Groups grew steadily each year (Figure 7). The gains in participation among Global Roots households is particularly encour-aging because these residents comprise approximately 28% of

The Giveaway Program Over Time Figure 7: The same data in Figure 5 were disaggregated by year. The Scholars & Patriots LifeMode Group was omitted because it represents just 0.03% (Figure 2d) of all households in New York City, and consequently has large error bars which are visually distracting.

households in the City, are ethnically diverse and represent the sec-ond largest market segment in the City with respect to the number of households. The program was most popular among households in the Senior Styles and Upscale Avenues in the year 2009. Upscale Avenues encompasses more than 10% of the households in New York City, and is unique because participation in NYRP’s giveaway program was al-ways at or above the average rate. In Brooklyn, the largest cluster of trees were given away in the neighborhoods of Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, Bedford-Stuvesant and Fort Greene (Figures 1b, 2a). These neighborhoods are mostly comprised of the LifeMode Groups Global Roots, Solo Acts and Metropolis, indicating participants from these neighborhoods are young, ethnically diverse and frequently financially up-and-coming. Looking more granularly at market seg-ments, the giveaway program was popular among Top Rung, Connois-seurs, Urban Chic and City Strivers in both spring and fall seasons. The high participation of segments with higher levels of home ownership corroborates e-mail surveys done by NYRP in the past, indicating par-ticipants were much more likely to be owners than renters.