{"id":401075,"date":"2026-09-16T02:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T02:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/401075\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T02:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T02:24:12","slug":"orange-county-launches-plan-to-expand-tree-canopy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/401075\/","title":{"rendered":"Orange County launches plan to expand tree canopy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"margin: 0.5rem 0; line-height: 1.6;\">ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 As Central Florida continues to grow, Orange County is taking steps to protect and expand its tree canopy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0.5rem 0; line-height: 1.6;\">The county is launching its first-ever <a href=\"https:\/\/engageorange.ocfl.net\/urban-forest-master-plan\" style=\"color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Urban Forest Master Plan<\/a>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0a long-term effort focused on protecting existing trees and adding more green space over the next two decades.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0.5rem 0; line-height: 1.6;\">About 35% of Orange County is currently covered by trees, and officials want to increase that to 48% by 2050.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0.5rem 0; line-height: 1.6;\">Planners say more trees can help reduce hot surface temperatures, improve air quality, manage stormwater and increase economic value in unincorporated areas.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0.5rem 0; line-height: 1.6;\">\u201cThey provide shade, manage stormwater, cleaner air and water. And it\u2019s important that we plan for them like we do other types of infrastructure here in Orange County,\u201d said Brooke Perry, chief planner with the county\u2019s Zoning Division.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0.5rem 0; line-height: 1.6;\">County planners have been studying approaches used locally and in other Florida counties as they develop the master plan.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0.5rem 0; line-height: 1.6;\">\u201cAs Orange County continues to grow, it\u2019s really important that we plan for trees, both in new development and also in our existing development, how to protect and maintain the trees that we have,\u201d Perry said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0.5rem 0; line-height: 1.6;\">Orange County has already been planting trees at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ocfl.net\/CommunityFamilyServices\/GreatOaksVillage.aspx\" style=\"color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Great Oaks Village<\/a> as part of its countywide effort to expand the urban canopy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0.5rem 0; line-height: 1.6;\">Perry said the plan will consider the different needs of communities across the county.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0.5rem 0; line-height: 1.6;\">\u201cThere\u2019s urbanized areas, suburban areas, and then our rural areas. So, what the plan is going to do is look at each of those unique communities and see where there\u2019s opportunities to add additional trees,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0.5rem 0; line-height: 1.6;\">The plan will ultimately guide how Orange County protects existing trees and adds new ones as development continues.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0.5rem 0; line-height: 1.6;\">County leaders are now seeking public input. A public meeting on the Urban Forest Master Plan is scheduled for Sept. 29 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ocfl.net\/InnovationCenter.aspx\" style=\"color: #0066cc; text-decoration: none;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Orange County Innovation Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 As Central Florida continues to grow, Orange County is taking steps to protect and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[767,274,770,1563,115,1053,1335,768,139,141,140,11881,278,835],"class_list":["post-401075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-community","tag-app-top-stories","tag-community-news","tag-environment","tag-news","tag-orange","tag-orange-county","tag-orange-county-fl","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-randy-rauch","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}