According to the Arbor Day Foundation, Vancouver warrants the distinction of Tree City USA. This is no surprise, considering that 91 cities in Washington qualify for the honor and considering that we are part of the Evergreen State. Trees have been linked with our culture, heritage and economy for generations.
Yet while we long have conflated trees with the vast forests that cross our state, new attention is being given to city-bound trees. Increasing and maintaining an urban tree canopy has been identified as an important method for fighting climate change.
Last year, the Legislature passed a law to strengthen the urban and community forestry arm of the Department of Natural Resources. The office, which had two staff members in 2020, soon will have nine.
Meanwhile, the Inflation Reduction Act recently passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden includes $1.5 billion for the U.S. Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Program.
As Ben Thompson, manager of the state program, told Stateline.org: “We’re on a trajectory of meteoric growth for urban forestry. All of a sudden, everyone’s passionate about this. It’s a lovely surprise.”
Such passion is nothing new for Vancouver officials. In 2020, through a series of city-sponsored events, residents added nearly 1,500 trees to the city’s landscape. That is part of a prolonged effort that has seen positive results: An assessment in 2021 found that the tree canopy covered 19 percent of land within the city limits, an increase from 16 percent in 2011.
Trees long have been admired for their beauty and their environmental benefits. Now they are viewed as an important strategy for combating climate change.
A 2019 study published in the journal Science claimed that globally planting 1 trillion trees — more than 120 for every person on Earth — could capture more than one-third of all the greenhouse gases humans have released since the Industrial Revolution. That conclusion has been disputed, and a University of Chicago geophysical sciences professor told The Hill: “Trees do take carbon out of the atmosphere, and if you want to permanently store carbon in trees, you have to permanently commit to keeping the trees forever. The fossil fuel carbon is so much bigger than all the carbon in the trees.”
A valid point, but planting trees should be one leg of a multipronged approach for mitigating climate change. Restoring forests, cutting carbon emissions, reducing the burning of fossil fuels, and protecting rainforests also are essential to curbing the threat.
In the meantime, shade provided by trees also is important for easing the heat in urban areas. As the federal Environmental Protection Agency wrote this year: “Trees and other plants help cool the environment, making vegetation a simple and effective way to reduce urban heat islands.”
Thompson said: “The whole climate problem just seems so enormous, but urban forestry is a great place to start. It doesn’t solve every problem, but it’s an affordable way you can make gains.”
That is the underlying question: What are the most effective and affordable ways to make progress against an intractable problem? Some conservatives have criticized the inclusion of urban forestry programs in the Inflation Reduction Act; but until they offer solutions rather than complaints, those criticisms should be ignored.
Increasing urban tree canopies is not only intended to make our cities more attractive; it is a thoughtful approach for addressing a pressing issue.
