Combating Heat Islands in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods
SKOKIE, ILLINOIS
The Village of Skokie, Illinois, is planting at least 450 trees by 2028, reducing heat islands and improving health outcomes for its 68,000 residents.
Located 16 miles north of downtown Chicago, the Village of Skokie, Illinois, has committed to increasing its tree coverage from 25.5% to 31% by 2040.
The Village will start by planting 450 free trees over the next five years. Eligible locations for plantings include schools, apartment buildings, condominiums, businesses, and places of worship. For each tree planted, Skokie officials will match the investment with an additional tree on a Village-owned parkway or right-of-way, with the goal of 1,065 new trees.
Increasing tree canopies in urban areas provides numerous health benefits for people and the environment. Studies have shown that the presence of trees leads to better physical and mental health outcomes for people by reducing the risk of respiratory and heart disease, easing stress, and increasing overall life expectancy. A greater concentration of trees has also been linked to reducing childhood obesity by as much as 12%.
By creating shade, trees help remove “heat islands,” exposed areas that experience more extreme temperatures due to a lack of tree cover and prevalence of materials like concrete, asphalt, and glass. This shade provides opportunities for people and wildlife to stay cool and reduces the energy it takes to air condition buildings. Trees also absorb airborne pollutants and carbon dioxide, soak up stormwater, and help prevent flooding. Investing in nature-based solutions—trees, wetlands, forests and rain gardens—is an important strategy for communities to improve the health of their local waters and ultimately the Great Lakes.
Workers planting trees in a Skokie neighborhood.
Credit: Village of Skokie
These strategies are increasingly important to help communities prepare for the impacts of climate change. Skokie’s tree-planting project stems from the city’s environmental sustainability plan, which looked at climate impacts through 2050 and found that many low-income neighborhoods and neighborhoods with higher proportions of People of Color lacked tree canopy coverage compared with more affluent neighborhoods.
Village officials chose to prioritize planting trees in disadvantaged areas and consulted the federal government’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST) to determine which neighborhoods were the best candidates. The online CEJST database uses U.S. Census data to identify areas across the country that face greater economic, environmental, and sociopolitical burdens.
In 2024, a partnership between the Village of Skokie Beautification & Improvement Commission and the Skokie Chamber of Commerce will begin surveying potential planting locations in these neighborhoods and beyond.
This project is made possible by a $327,000 grant from the Urban and Community Forestry Program, an initiative of the United States Forest Service that awarded nearly $68 million to projects in the Great Lakes region last year. In 2023, the Forest Service received more than $1.1 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act to award to urban communities for forestry projects nationwide.
Resource Challenges Addressed
Tracking of fish contamination
Air pollution
Heat islands
Stormwater runoff
Environmental justice
Mental and physical health
Key Partners
United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Program, Village of Skokie Beautification & Improvement Commission, and Skokie Chamber of Commerce
Cost
$327,000
Results and Accomplishments
By planting trees in disadvantaged neighborhoods, the Village of Skokie will combat heat islands, mitigate pollution, and improve the mental and physical health of residents.
*This story is part of a Great Lakes restoration success story packet that was used in the Coalition’s 2024 Great Lakes Day, with one story from each state in the region. Read the full packet
