Trees in urban areas provide a number of benefits, from shade to cleaner air. Authors of a new assessment hope Puget Sound cities and towns will keep that in mind as the region sees rapid growth.
The Urban Tree Canopy Assessment provides planning resources so forest managers can better prioritize where they plant trees in central Puget Sound. Hannah Kett, urban program director for The Nature Conservancy in Washington, which led efforts on the report, said the goal of the assessment is to provide tree-planting tools for the region.
“Also to share, really, a model for regions in Washington state and across the U.S. of how a regional urban canopy assessment and tool development worked,” she said, “and what to consider if you’re doing a similar project.”
The assessment was a result of a three-year partnership with organizations including Davey Tree, American Forests and City Forest Credits.
Funds for the project came from the U.S. Forest Service and were administered through the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Ben Thomspon, the DNR’s urban and community forestry program manager, said lower-income neighborhoods often have fewer trees and can suffer the consequences — such as more urban heat islands and more flooding from increased stormwater runoff.
“You get this kind of one-two punch, where the lower-income residents in areas without tree canopy are not reaping the benefits that trees provide – including clean air, clean water, cooler environment,” he said, “but then, they’re also getting the increased impacts from the adverse conditions that result from not having tree canopy.”
The assessment also includes a climate species guide for trees that will be resilient to climate change. Thompson said successful street trees can live for decades.
“Most of the time when we plant trees, it goes beyond our own lifespans,” he said. “So, if we’re installing trees today, we need to make sure that the trees we’re planting today are going to be resilient to the climate that we can ostensibly predict, to the best of our ability, in the future.”
Thompson said there are three types of trees to focus on as the climate changes, including native species, resilient species that can weather climate stressors and trees from more southerly climates as conditions get warmer. He said it’s important to diversify the trees planted in urban areas.
— By Eric Tegethoff, Public News Service
While there are some useful tools associated with this study regarding future planting, I believe something is missing here. A true assessment should look at what we humans have been doing to our community ‘over time’, not just a snapshot done in 2020. I believe studies were done in the past regarding the condition of our canopy.
Those past canopy studies have been quoted repeatedly as the basis for numerous Edmonds tree management decisions. Hopefully, buried in this huge amount of data, an analysis is available that speaks to how our canopy is changing over time, and at what rate. History predicts the future to some degree. What has happened over the past 10 years? Are changes accelerating? Are our codes and plans working?
It makes me a bit uneasy to see that the ‘data’ comes from Davey Tree which is in the business of cutting down trees and the US Forest Service, which is in the business of selling trees. The focus appears to be on planting trees and less so on long term trends and the potential impact of those trends.
This data might be an ‘opportunity’ for the Edmonds Tree Board. Hopefully someone on the Board will learn how to use those US Forest Service maps and interactive tools (which are complex) to determine the true canopy situation in Edmonds and whether our current codes and plans are effective. Hopefully this isn’t just a “feel good” exercise as we continue to destroy our natural resources and habitat.