The urban forestry field has long operated with limited means to deliver the benefits of forests to urban America. There is no lack of earnestness, passion and even transformative sophistication among people in the public, private and nonprofit sectors who work on urban forests. But they — myself included — rarely speak about how much investment is actually needed. Our field nurtures a living infrastructure that has long been seen by those who hold real power as deserving little more than scraps when they’re available.
Just about every city forester in the United States has complained at one point about not being invited to the real decision-making table for large projects or budgetary debates until it is too late. Too often they’re looped in at the end of the process, if at all, perhaps to select trees to be planted in little squares cut in concrete rather than to be part of the design from the start so they can lend their expertise to help trees thrive. Or maybe they get word secondhand that the city council has cut its budget again, due to competing priorities.
This dynamic is no longer sustainable. Princeton University’s Climate Central projects that, by 2100, Boston will have summers that feel like North Miami Beach and Seattle’s will feel like Los Angeles. We urgently need to slow climate change and urban forests are key to the solution. Urban trees currently store an estimated 852 million metric tons of carbon, valued at $160 billion. The climate and health research synthesized on Vibrant Cities Lab makes abundantly clear that as cities warm, urban tree canopy is rapidly emerging as critical, life-saving infrastructure. This is particularly true in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods that are least likely to have enough trees. Simply put, Tree Equity is defined as having enough trees so all people experience the health, economic, psychological and other benefits that trees provide.
Fortunately, those in power are starting to take notice asking urban forestry professionals from American Forests and elsewhere what needs to be done.
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