Holyoke and Chelsea, MA urban tree canopy cover data, 1952-2014

These data represent tree cover for two cities (Chelsea and the urban core of Holyoke) in Massachusetts. Tree cover was manually delineated on aerial imagery from 1952, 1971, 2003 and 2014. Also included are neighborhood boundaries for both of these study locations.
Urban foresters assess urban tree canopy cover trends using remotely sensed imagery as a way to provide data for municipalities to set or maintain goals for tree canopy. However, these assessments typically do not take into account historical and socioeconomical dynamics of tree cover change over many decades. These land cover change data were collected to assess the rates and drivers of tree canopy cover change, using Holyoke and Chelsea to investigate the processes of tree cover change in post-industrial cities. Understanding historical drivers of tree canopy cover change can be used to inform multi-decadal urban tree canopy assessments and the creation of targeted, feasible urban tree canopy goals at neighborhood and city scales. These historical analyses can help urban natural resource managers to better understand how to protect and expand their cities’ urban tree canopy over time.
For more information about these data see Healy et al. (2022). These data were published on 02/22/2022. Minor metadata updates were made on 04/25/2023.