Focus on Urban Canopy
Our urban canopy projects—dating back decades—reflect our commitment to preserving and restoring our critical urban tree canopy. To date, we have been responsible for planting over 14,000 trees through our many initiatives including our 10,000 Trees Initiative, Green Square Mile and more…
Focus on Gardens & Greenspaces
Columbia Green is committed to improving and protecting our natural beauty, restoring habitats for native wildlife, and prioritizing the health and well-being of our community.
We embrace the 3 - 30 - 300 Rule:
Every person should be able to see 3 trees from their home;
Every neighborhood should have at least 30% tree canopy coverage; and
Every person should have walkable access to a green space—about 300 meters.
Focus on Education
Education is baked into to our mission
Mobilizing our community to protect and improve our urban ecosystem depends on us all to understand not only how trees, gardens, and greenspaces contribute to the vibrancy and livability of our great city, but how our actions and decisions impact the people and creatures that inhabit our urban ecosystem.
Everyone—from policy-makers to developers to employers to activists to naturalists, gardeners, and tree huggers, to families, schools, churches, and civic organizations—we all play a critical role in working to ensure that we do what we need to do now to preserve and protect this beautiful urban environment generations to come.
In-Person Educational Events
Community Blog
Materials & Resources
Walk & Learn
Hands-on Projects
Columbia Green Ambassadors
Focus on Partnership
This is (Maybe) Our Superpower
At Columbia Green, we know how to build powerful, collaborative partnerships, bringing together people and organizations to put our heads (and resources) together to get things done. We know are stronger together. We work hard to build relationships and networks so we can all communicate and collaborate about our projects, events, and the initiatives that benefit us all.
Focus on Green Infrastructure
We didn’t know much about this before our involvement with Beat the Heat. Now, through our work with the Green Infrastructure Center and the SC Public Health Smart Surfaces Group, we are learning that our trees and greenspaces represent an investment that works for us to intercept and manage stormwater runoff, lower energy costs, protect paved surfaces. sequester carbon, clean the air of pollutants, generate oxygen, and lower surface and air temperatures.
For every $1 invested in urban trees, the city gets a $1 to $3 return ANNUALLY. That’s quite a return on investment