Sheila Roberts recalls walking through Cooper Plaza, the Camden, N.J. neighborhood she calls home in 2002, noticing something unusual: a newly planted, tree-lined street.
“Immediately upon looking at the street, I didn’t notice the trash. I didn’t notice the graffiti. And I didn’t notice how unkempt the street was,” Roberts said. “And it was because there were trees there.”
Roberts learned that the new planting was the work of the New Jersey Tree Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to planting trees in the state’s urban neighborhoods. Since then, she has worked with the foundation to get more 200 trees planted in Cooper Plaza.
The positive effects on the community’s health and quality of life have been enormous, Roberts said.
“We were looking around for some miracle,” she said, “and all it took was a tree.”
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
Before completing that transformative work, Roberts and her neighbors in Cooper Plaza experienced the same effect as many Americans living in historically marginalized neighborhoods: a startling lack of tree canopy equity.
But today, cities such as Camden, Newark and Baltimore are bucking that trend by embracing strong state and municipal urban forestry programs. As a result, more trees are being planted in marginalized communities.
The New Jersey Tree Foundation’s long-running efforts have played a significant role in Camden’s success.
Lisa Simms, the foundation’s director since its inception in 1997, said the organization has “always come from a place of equity.”
“Although we didn’t know to call it that, it was for me a matter of: Where do we need trees? Where are they needed for all their benefits?” Simms recalled. “And that’s why we focused on urban areas …”
The foundation began the Urban Airshed Reforestation Program in Camden in 2002, which aims to engage residents in applying for, planting and maintaining trees in their neighborhoods.
Simms emphasized that the foundation doesn’t “target” specific neighborhoods in the sense that it won’t initiate a planting project unless residents have invited it to do so. Foundation staff endeavor to make their presence known in neighborhoods by posting information in public spaces and leaving flyers on residents’ doors.
But in some cases, people and communities may get left out of opportunities.
“We’re not intrusive, but we’re still in the neighborhood, and they can see us,” Simms said. “If they know anything about us – which, after all these years, most of the time they do – and they want trees, they’ll give us a call.”
So far, the program has removed approximately 89,500 square feet of impervious surface to plant nearly 7,500 trees along city streets and engaged more than 15,000 volunteers.
Community partners
On the opposite end of New Jersey, Newark has also succeeded in advancing tree canopy equity – again thanks in part to the New Jersey Tree Foundation’s efforts.
The foundation’s Renaissance Trees Program has served the city since 2006, planting nearly 3,750 trees, removing nearly 22,000 square feet of concrete and engaging more than 8,000 volunteers.
The city’s approach to planting trees is a bit more targeted than the New Jersey Tree Foundation’s. Using the forest analysis tool i-Tree, Nathaly Agosto Filión, Newark’s chief sustainability officer, and her staff have mapped out areas of the city with larger populations of people of color, lower-income people, seniors and children, as well as those areas more prone to flood risks and poor air quality.
Then they worked with nonprofits and grassroots organizations, including the New Jersey Tree Foundation and the Newark Green Team, to choose areas to prioritize tree plantings.
The city is currently preparing to plant 400 to 500 trees over the next two years, thanks to a city tree fund that developers may pay into if they’re unable or unwilling to follow city master plan stipulations for the minimum number of trees that must be planted with new development.
In some areas, though, residents might be reluctant to plant trees because they are annoyed with older trees buckling the sidewalk or causing other issues.
That’s where community outreach has been crucial for Newark.
The city has worked with community partners to encourage people to plant trees, adopt rain barrels provided by the city and make other eco-friendly choices. The city has also launched the Newark Climate Justice Ambassador internship program in collaboration with the Newark Green Team.
High school students intern with Agosto Filión’s office, with the overall goal of helping young Newark residents and their communities become more aware of environmental justice work in the city.
Growing Baltimore’s tree canopy
Baltimore also has a lengthy history of efforts to improve its tree canopy.
In 2007, then-mayor Martin O’Malley set a goal of doubling the city’s canopy from 20% to 40% by 2037.
The city is a bit behind that goal, but it’s made progress: The most recent data shows that the canopy has increased to 28%.
One significant component of that work is TreeBaltimore, an initiative of the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks launched in 2007.
The agency acts as an umbrella organization for city departments, private organizations and individuals working to increase the city’s tree canopy. It regularly convenes others who lead tree plantings in the town and procures most of the trees they plant.
As in Camden and Newark, community outreach work is essential to increase the number of trees on private property in Baltimore and to ensure that residents don’t “feel like we’re coming in and dumping a bunch of trees and just rolling out,” said Charles Murphy, the manager of TreeBaltimore.
Patrick Dunn writes for Planet Detroit, a nonprofit news service that focuses on the environment and health.
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This story comes from our partners at the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous reporting about social issues.
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