New Interactive Site Shows Impact Climate Change Has on What Trees to Plant Throughout the U.S.

The Arbor Day Foundation and The Davey Tree Expert Company are unveiling a new online tool online to educate homeowners and tree planters about how climate change is impacting the country’s future plant hardiness zones. 

“Climate change is already affecting people and the planet in so many ways and those changes are even impacting the types of trees we should be planting in our own yards and community green spaces,” said Dan Lambe, CEO of the Arbor Day Foundation. “These interactive future hardiness zone maps are designed to help homeowners visualize the impact of climate change and determine which trees planted today will thrive in the decades to come.” 

Hardiness zones divide the United States into areas based on a 10-degree Fahrenheit difference in the average annual minimum temperature. The zones help inform what trees, shrubs and plants can survive and thrive in that zone. 

The Davey Institute created the new interactive website based on data and maps compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service. The maps and projections help demonstrate how a warming climate will change hardiness zones by the middle and end of this century. Users can search for specific zip codes throughout the United States to learn their local zone’s current state and coming changes to the zones forecasted well into the future. 

To read the rest of the press release, click here.

To view the plant hardiness zones map, click here.