Education May (or may not) Achieve Tree Equity Goals
Virtually every city includes public education as part of their tree equity strategy. It’s aimed at demonstrating the benefits of trees and the value people get from planting and keeping them.
But simply telling people that trees are “good for them” isn’t enough to get trees in the ground, much less assure their survival over the next decades.
Nor will it enlist residents as partners in the long-term maintenance of newly planted trees.
In fact, even when they acknowledge the benefits, residents may not favor new trees for a variety of reasons: potential liability, maintenance costs, fear of asthma — even concerns that the city hasn’t made good on past promises to maintain trees, and aren’t likely to do so in the future.
Tree giveaways may not provide relief to neighborhoods where the need is greatest. Neighborhoods in the 80th percentile for people of color have 38% less tree canopy on average than neighborhoods in the 20th percentile and are 13 degrees hotter!
Where it Works: Enabling community stewardship
What does work are partnerships with local groups and involvement of high profile individuals from the neighborhood. They can not only carry the message but lay the foundation for community support of new trees and a commitment to serve as volunteer stewards. That’s why many communities create public/private partnerships to serve as the hub for recruiting, training and mobilize volunteers. The most successful can produce thousands of volunteer hours annually for work in neighborhoods and throughout the community.
Brings together the city with Forterra,a major land trust, and many towns, cities and local nonprofit conservation groups.
1644 volunteer events, 33,000 volunteer hours, 289 acres of forest restoration in a single year.
A partnership between the city and the Fairmont Park Conservance, TreePhilly enjoys a national reputation for creative outreach and education strategies.
Planted 1,900 yard trees, 5,100 trees in parks and natural areas in a single year.