Norwalk Officials Clarify Tree Master Plan

December 26, 2025

–

NORWALK, Conn. — Following the recent removal of a mature oak tree at the intersection of Cemetery Street and Gregory Boulevard, Norwalk officials are offering renewed clarification on the city’s long-term Tree Master Plan, a 30-year strategy aimed at expanding canopy coverage, prioritizing heat-vulnerable neighborhoods, and guiding future tree planting across both public and private land.

What is the Tree Master Plan?

Over 30 years, The Tree Master Plan will expand “Norwalk’s tree canopy coverage from 43% to 53%;” provide “a roadmap to guide tree planting, care and investment across public and private land, ensuring long-term community benefits;” and guide “tree planting, care and investment across public and private land, ensuring long-term community benefits,” the Norwalk City Council shared on its website.

Timeline of the plan

The neighborhoods of the four priority groups were broken down to illustrate the existing percent of canopy, the percent of canopy goals and how many trees would need to be planted per year in order to complete the goal. Courtesy of The City of Norwalk.

*A map of Norwalk highlighting which neighborhoods make up the priorities in the Tree Master Plan. Image courtesy of The City of Norwalk.*

The City Council organized all of the neighborhoods in Norwalk into four priority groups to determine where to start the work, which were “based on canopy cover, planting space, sociodemographic data, and other criteria.”

The plan indicated that each priority will be worked on in intervals of ten years.

How much of the plan is finished?

“Approximately 3,100 City trees have been taken down over the past 10 years by City Operations and through the permit process,” City of Norwalk Director of Communications Michelle Woods Matthews said. “90% of tree removals by City Operations were due to trees being unhealthy or a hazard to residents or drivers,” in addition to “a significant number of tree removals by City Operations” that were “due to major storms.”

In regard to the Tree Master Plan requiring 20% of the trees to be planted voluntarily on private properties, Matthews said Norwalk “is creating an Urban Forestry Commission,” which “will advise City staff on best practices, planting standards, and overall urban forestry strategies in coordination with the Tree Warden.”

“The Commission will also support educational initiatives and events like Arbor Day celebrations to promote the planting and care of public trees and work toward expanding the tree canopy in low-canopy neighborhoods,” Matthews continued in her statement.