NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — A tree-planting group, Sustaining Our Urban Landscape (SOUL), has partnered with a local architecture firm to try to plant a tree on every block in neighborhoods that lack them.

SOUL and the architecture firm, Spackman Mossop Michaels, held a press conference Friday (Jan. 20) at the Sewerage and Water Board Green Infrastructure Project to announce their “Restoration Plan”.

The chosen neighborhoods include Hollygrove, St. Bernard, the Whitney Corridor in Algiers, Central City, and Little Woods.

“Urban trees are key to equitably addressing the impacts of climate change in New Orleans – from reducing storm water flooding from increasingly intense storms, to literally cooling down our hottest neighborhoods,” said Andy Kopplin, President and CEO of the Greater New Orleans Foundation.

According to research by SOUL, New Orleans lost more than 200,000 trees after Hurricane Katrina. The research also shows that the city has a tree canopy of less than 20% coverage.

SOUL plans to expand its reforestation efforts city-wide by 2030, with a goal of complete reforestation by 2050.

More information is available at www.soulnola.org.