Washington’s Department of Natural Resources is forming a new partnership with American Forests to advance tree equity and reverse alarming declines in tree canopy in communities across the Pacific Northwest, Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz and American Forests President and CEO Jad Daley announced today at a press event with Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell.
The partnership, which will be known as the Washington Tree Equity Collaborative, “will engage cities, community organizations and stakeholders during the next three years to build rigorous and inclusive urban forestry programs,” the Department says. It will make use of American Forests’ Tree Equity Score, a tool freely available to the public that measures tree canopy cover in an increasing number of cities and towns along socioeconomic lines.
Watch the press conference:
Seattle is one of the first cities to join the collaborative.
Mayor Harrell’s administration has taken an interest in strengthening Seattle’s tree protection policies, which are in need of a comprehensive update.
NPI’s research has repeatedly found that Seattleites are overwhelmingly in favor of updating city codes to preserve as many mature trees as reasonably possible, in addition to planting new trees. Since the summer of 2021, we have released three sets of findings concerning Seattleites’ views on this topic.
In September of 2021, we announced that we had found support for:
In December of 2021, we announced that we had found support for:
Last month, we unveiled yet another finding. We found that two-thirds of Seattle voters are concerned about tree and canopy loss in their neighborhood and the city as housing density increases to meet the city’s growing population.
Since Mayor Harrell’s swearing-in, the city has adopted legislation requiring tree care providers (arborists) to meet minimum certification and training and register with the city. It subsequently created the position of city forester in the city’s budget. Now it’s working on an update to the city’s tree protection ordinance with Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss and the rest of the Council.
What goes into that ordinance will be very consequential.
It’s easy to say that trees are important and to set tree canopy targets. It’s much harder to actually implement strong policies that protect trees.
For example, Mayor Harrell has pledged to do the following:
Sounds good, but the follow-through is going to be key.
And, as mentioned above, it’s not going to be enough to just plant new trees. That won’t be sufficient to arrest canopy declines. We also need much better strategies for preserving mature trees, backed up by policies with teeth.
We need a development culture shift in Seattle and in the larger region. Trees cannot be viewed as obstacles to development — things that are in the way of building a building. Instead, they must be recognized for what they are — essential neighborhood assets with tremendous value — and treated accordingly.
DNR’s increased emphasis on urban forestry is a big deal. Commissioner Hilary Franz is rightfully proud that the state has more people and dollars committed to defending, sustaining, and growing our urban forests. This is the kind of leadership we need from our Department of Natural Resources.
Our team was impressed by what we heard from American Forests President and CEO Jad Daley yesterday too.
Daley made sure during the press conference to acknowledge the work of TreePAC and Friends of Seattle’s Urban Forests, who NPI has repeatedly partnered with to study voters’ views on protecting trees in the Emerald City.
American Forests is bringing useful and actionable data to the table. This is exactly what states like Washington and Seattle need to understand how we compare to other places, especially with respect to equity.
We know that tree canopy loss hasn’t hit every neighborhood the same. With richer, more complete data, we can get a better sense of the inequities that have resulted from our past decisions so we can make better decisions for the future.
Readers, we hope you’ll take the time to watch some or all of the press conference by playing the video above. We think you’ll find it very informative.
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