Cuyahoga County is intersected by 3 major watersheds: the Rocky, Cuyahoga, and Chagrin. In addition, much of the County drains directly to the shores of Lake Erie. Within those major watersheds are 32 smaller subwatersheds (Figure 8), ranging in size from 200 acres to more than 20,000 acres.

Research by Goetz et al. (2003) indicates that watersheds with 37% tree canopy can be categorized as “fair” in a stream health rating; watersheds with 45% tree canopy can be categorized as “good.”  While the countywide tree canopy overage is 37.5%, the extent within each subwatershed varies widely.

Figures:

Tree canopy metrics summarized by watershed

Tree Canopy Watersheds Graph

Existing tree canopy summarized by subwatershed

Existing Tree Canopy Summarized By Watershed Map

Possible planting area summarized by subwatershed

Possible Planting Area Summarized by Watershed

Tree canopy metrics summarized by subwatershed
Existing Tree Canopy Possible Planting Area Vegetated Possible Planting Area Impervious Not Suitable for Planting Rank
Name Total
Land
Cover,
Excluding
Water
(Acres)
Acres Percent Acres Percent Acres Percent Acres Percent Existing
Tree
Canopy
Existing
Impervious
Abrams Creek 6,480.4 1,463.2 22.6% 1,965.3 30.3% 1,434.1 22.1% 1,644.6 25.4% 26 9
Baldwin Creek 6,345.9 2,488.6 39.2% 2,342.9 36.9% 717.3 11.3% 854.0 13.5% 16 20
Big Creek 23,985.3 5,569.0 23.2% 7,491.1 31.2% 5,548.2 23.1% 5,456.6 22.7% 24 6
Brandywine Creek 213.9 60.0 28.0% 97.5 45.6% 34.0 15.9% 22.8 10.7% 23 17
Chagrin River Aurora Branch 5,419.4 2,771.5 51.1% 1,657.6 30.6% 397.0 7.3% 682.7 12.6% 6 29
Chagrin River Main Branch 27,935.7 16,834.9 60.3% 6,706.4 24.0% 1,785.1 6.4% 2,919.5 10.5% 2 30
Chagrin River Upper Main Branch / Beaver Creek 1,477.4 890.3 60.3% 340.3 23.0% 98.8 6.7% 178.4 12.1% 3 28
Chippewa Creek 11,331.2 5,861.6 51.7% 3,315.4 29.3% 995.5 8.8% 1,220.2 10.8% 5 26
Cuyahoga Navigation Channel / Morganna / Burke Br 3,047.7 420.3 13.8% 610.8 20.0% 1,186.6 38.9% 870.1 28.6% 32 1
Cuyahoga River / Cuyahoga Valley National Park 18,319.8 9,934.7 54.2% 5,001.7 27.3% 1,857.1 10.1% 1,781.3 9.7% 4 25
Cuyahoga River Navigation Channel 5,266.8 813.6 15.4% 1,248.0 23.7% 1,540.0 29.2% 1,837.2 34.9% 31 2
Cuyahoga River Navigation Channel / Kingsbury Run 5,937.8 1,204.3 20.3% 1,714.8 28.9% 1,548.8 26.1% 1,510.9 25.4% 29 5
Doan Brook 6,238.9 2,608.8 41.8% 1,319.8 21.2% 948.4 15.2% 1,409.4 22.6% 12 13
Dugway / Nine Mile / Green Creeks 15,017.5 4,808.0 32.0% 3,693.9 24.6% 3,013.2 20.1% 3,526.5 23.5% 21 8
Euclid Creek 13,268.7 4,641.5 35.0% 4,236.8 31.9% 1,835.1 13.8% 2,623.3 19.8% 20 14
French Creek 3,923.4 1,886.0 48.1% 1,203.8 30.7% 288.1 7.3% 576.9 14.7% 10 27
Furnace Run 1,873.4 756.7 40.4% 574.8 30.7% 205.1 10.9% 366.3 19.6% 14 23
Lake Erie East Tributaries 8,068.0 1,260.5 15.6% 1,963.0 24.3% 2,097.0 26.0% 2,820.1 35.0% 30 3
Lake Erie Tributaries East of Black River 599.5 294.7 49.2% 173.3 28.9% 44.2 7.4% 91.0 15.2% 8 21
Lake Erie Tributaries West of Chagrin River 6,311.1 1,415.2 22.4% 1,965.2 31.1% 1,353.5 21.4% 1,596.3 25.3% 27 7
Lake Erie West Tribs (Cahoon, Sperry Creeks) 12,826.0 5,082.5 39.6% 3,865.6 30.1% 1,641.5 12.8% 2,267.7 17.7% 15 16
Lake Erie West Tributaries 5,915.0 1,299.4 22.0% 1,499.7 25.4% 1,379.0 23.3% 1,741.4 29.4% 28 4
Mill Creek 12,381.3 2,866.0 23.1% 4,105.1 33.2% 2,749.6 22.2% 2,717.0 21.9% 25 10
Plum Creek 1,142.0 523.1 45.8% 370.3 32.4% 118.4 10.4% 139.4 12.2% 11 22
Pond Brook 1,115.5 561.0 50.3% 345.5 31.0% 47.7 4.3% 186.2 16.7% 7 31
Porter Creek 4,146.8 1,681.6 40.6% 1,254.8 30.3% 477.9 11.5% 767.0 18.5% 13 18
Rocky River East Branch 20,559.9 10,115.9 49.2% 6,289.7 30.6% 1,842.7 9.0% 2,523.2 12.3% 9 24
Rocky River Main Stem 9,535.4 3,408.0 35.7% 2,388.0 25.0% 1,432.2 15.0% 2,477.3 26.0% 18 12
Rocky River West Branch 15,769.5 5,817.9 36.9% 5,729.9 36.3% 1,733.7 11.0% 2,628.5 16.7% 17 19
Tinkers Creek 24,631.8 8,677.5 35.2% 8,388.5 34.1% 3,804.3 15.4% 3,960.6 16.1% 19 15
West Creek 12,100.6 3,499.2 28.9% 4,096.6 33.9% 2,363.6 19.5% 2,247.4 18.6% 22 11
Willow Creek 263.8 180.9 68.6% 48.3 18.3% 3.7 1.4% 31.0 11.8% 1 32
CUYAHOGA COUNTY TOTAL 291,510.5 109,688.3 37.6% 86,032.2 29.5% 44,560.2 15.3% 53,912.3 18.5%

For downloadable spreadsheets and GIS data, see the Downloads page.

For an interactive version, explore the Land Cover/Tree Canopy layers in our Greenprint Viewer.

Greenprint GIS