3-30-300 Rule:
Can you see three trees from your home? If the answer is no, there’s work to be done.
Urban Forestry professor and researcher Dr. Cecil Konijnendijk recently put forward a guiding rule for cities and their urban forests called the 3-30-300 Rule. Every resident should have three trees in view of their home, there should be a 30 percent tree canopy in all neighbourhoods, and there should be a high-quality park or greenspace within 300 metres of every home.
The 3-30-300 Rule is a best practice and science data-driven inspirational challenge and call to action for cities. Trees in cities help make our lives better and that includes our mental health, physical health, and social connections.
Planting trees and growing our urban forest canopy can help improve Hamilton’s overall air quality, protect water quality, reduce flooding, fight climate change, support biodiversity, provide our yards with shade and noise buffering and increase property values.
Planting trees on private property in Hamilton is especially important because many areas of our city have disproportionately lower urban forest canopy cover. For example, the recent urban forest technical report recorded 7.6% canopy cover in Ward 8 and 27.4% in Ward 5 (based on data from 2017).
How to Get Involved:
Learn
Education and awareness is always a great place to start! You can learn more about tree equity on our website or in our Canopy for Community Blog.
Get to know your neighbourhood and put it to the 3-30-300 test:
- Can you see 3 trees?
- Is your neighbourhood approximately 30 percent shaded by a canopy of trees? Compare your ward in the Urban Forest Strategy.
- Can you walk 300 metres to find a greenspace, park, or a treed boulevard?
Grow
Participate in our Communi-TREE campaign for a chance to win $100 credit to a local tree nursery, Kayanase.
Advocate for more tree equity in our city. Stay up to date on what’s going on with the City of Hamilton’s Urban Forest Strategy by following along on Engage Hamilton.
Plant
Participate in tree stewardship and plantings. Check out the latest events Green Venture has planned.
If able, plant a tree or advocate to have trees planted in your neighbourhood. If you don’t have room or are unable to plant a tree at your property, request a street tree from the City of Hamilton.
Keep following along for more ways to give back to our urban forest and community!
