The Cincinnati Zoo is one of only two accredited Botanical Gardens in Ohio, and leads its peers in LEED certified buildings and exhibits. Within its highly urbanized surroundings, the many mature trees in the Botanic Garden offer shade, stormwater management, air quality improvement, and other valuable ecosystem benefits to visitors, staff, and the animals.  

​​The world renowned Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden officially opened in 1875, making it the second oldest zoo in the United States.

The Zoo’s mature trees are the “elephants” in the historic landscape. While the 1.5 million annual visitors may not come specifically to see the stately native trees throughout the Zoo, like the elephants, visitors would most certainly miss them if they were gone. For both people and the animals, the zoo experience would be dramatically different if large canopied trees were missing from the landscape.​

​For this reason, the Zoo’s horticultural staff rely on Urban Canopy Works’ Certified Arborists to provide timely and practical arboricultural consulting services.   For over a decade, Urban Canopy Works staff have provided these expert service to the Zoo:

• Tree protection  & mitigation consulting during construction
• Tree risk assessments
• Diagnostic testing, such as foliar analyses, internal decay detection using a resistograph, & soil testing
• Storm damage evaluation
• Tree value appraisals
• Staff & contractor training​

​The mission of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is dedicated to creating adventure, conveying knowledge, conserving nature, and serving the community. With the assistance of Urban Canopy Works, the mature trees that define the landscape are proactively and properly managed in support of many aspects of this mission.