They clean and cool the air. They soak up stormwater and prevent erosion. They add beauty and become wildlife habitats. Gazing on them or strolling among them just makes people feel better.

Cities and towns increasingly are recognizing the value of their urban forests. Some municipalities have found trees can sprout other benefits as well, such as community engagement, building residents’ job skills and improving economically depressed areas.

“It is really exciting to see people want to get involved,” said Josh Petter, urban forest planner for the city of Burien, a community of 50,000 people along Puget Sound south of Seattle in Washington state.

Many communities strive for a tree canopy covering 40% of their municipal boundaries. The canopy is the upper level of foliage growing from larger trees. Burien has a current canopy of between 30% and 40%, and nearby Lakewood, Wash., is at 29%.

Other municipalities may put greater emphasis on other forestry measures, Petter noted, such as an inventory of trees along streets and in public spaces or the number of organizations and residents involved in tree projects.

Get people involved

Successful urban forest management often involves a branched approach to getting residents involved and invested in caring for the community’s urban forest.

Fort Worth, Texas, created a survey to seek residents’ ideas as officials develop a master plan for managing city forest resources to enhance the local quality of life.

Burien asks residents about what types of trees and vegetation they want to plant, said Petter, an arborist who began work March 1 as the city’s first urban forest planner. The city’s Green Burien Partnership also involves residents in projects such as removing ivy and invasive blackberries that can smother trees, planting new trees and restoring natural areas, he said.

“Yes, we are certainly cultivating volunteers,” said Emily Inlow-Hood, Burien’s communications officer. “But we also recognize from an equity perspective, not everybody has the time and resources to volunteer their time. Burien is a very diverse community, both economically, culturally and racially. So our programs, the way they are designed is we offer a lot of stipended opportunities.”

Through partnerships with nonprofits, young people receive pay while learning to work in the field of environmental restoration, Inlow-Hood said. The city also has an internship program with a local alternative high school. “Because it’s not just about restoring the trees. It’s also about building community.”

The connections can make a huge difference, Petter said.

“I think any time you can get people involved with the planting and decision-making, that is really helpful because trees are a very long-lived thing,” he explained. “We really need to build a long-lasting community partnership on that front because, (at) the city, we don’t have the resources to take care of every single tree alone.”

Care for existing trees

Many communities rely on public works, street or parks department staff to prune and care for trees along streets and on city property.

Some communities also enact tree ordinances to control how private landowners manage trees on their property. Tree ordinances function much like ordinances used by building departments or planning and zoning departments to regulate land-use activities.

Lakewood, Wash., a city of 63,000 in the suburbs of Tacoma, has had a tree code since the city incorporated in 1996, according to Dave Bugher, assistant city manager and the city’s community and economic development director. However, the city council passed a stricter, revised tree code in November. The council delayed code implementation until March 1 so city staff could educate residents about the new regulations and potential penalties.

The updated tree code grew out of residents’ concern about a proposed industrial development that would destroy a number of native Garry oak trees, Bugher said. The revised tree ordinance reduced to 10,000 square feet from 17,000 square feet the lot size for which private landowners need to get a permit to remove a tree. The new ordinance also protects “significant trees,” particularly the Garry oaks that are native to a narrow range around Puget Sound and the British Columbia islands.

“It’s not endangered, but its range is being impacted,” Bugher said. “These trees take hundreds of years to grow. So if you take one down, it’s kind of a significant historical event.”

Burien also passed a revised tree ordinance in October but delayed enforcement of fines until March 1 to prepare residents for the changes. The new regulations, which seek to preserve large, healthy trees, generally require private property owners to obtain a city permit before removing a tree considered large for its species. Property owners also must seek a permit to remove more than the allowed number of trees per year based on their lot size. In addition, they typically need a permit to top a tree or to prune more than 25% of its canopy.

Plant trees

Planting trees also expands a community’s urban forest and can help address tree equity — situations where wealthier areas of cities have more trees than economically disadvantaged areas. Many municipalities now also require or encourage planting native tree species, which may grow better and provide more habitat benefits than non-native trees.

Fort Worth’s Neighborhood Tree Planting Program, for example, allows residents of neighborhoods to act as a group to order free trees in 5-gallon containers for planting in parkways and near roads, it said on the city’s website, www.fortworthtexas.gov. The city’s Tree Grant Program provides free trees for planting in public places, such as schools, libraries, parks and street medians.

Lakewood relies heavily on requirements placed on new industrial growth, Bugher said, to protect its canopy.

“Industrial development, for example, is required to plant an incredible amount of trees for an industrial use,” he said. “I guess we take down some trees but, over time, the trees we require in new development will actually exceed the current canopy. It just takes 20 to 30 years to get there.”

Burien wants to plant more trees along streets, which will improve all residents’ access to green spaces, Petter said.

A city program also provided a funding match to assist neighborhoods with tree planting or tree protection projects. Proposals submitted in 2022 will result in the planting of about 100 trees in 2023. Collaboration with residents has the added long-term benefit of teaching them about trees and caring for them. “We really want to bring as many different organizations and people into this as possible.”

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