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BOSTON - Friday, May 12, 2023 - Today, Mayor
Michelle Wu joined Mass Audubon at the Boston Nature Center to announce a
new City program to expand tree planting and maintenance on private land.
The City has selected Mass Audubon to design and operate a program to
support tree canopy growth on private property in Boston. Mass Audubon will
serve as the convener of the Tree Alliance, which will include a larger
group of non-profits who will collaborate on an annual plan for tree
planting, maintenance, and public education activities for
participating groups such as community centers, houses of worship, and
non-profit organizations. The Tree Alliance will bolster Boston’s tree
canopy to enhance livability and public health throughout Boston’s
neighborhoods, with a particular focus on Environmental Justice
communities. This program follows the recommendations of Boston’s
first Urban Forest
Plan (UFP), an
assessment of Boston’s urban forest with suggestions to improve the way
trees are cared for and ensure the urban forest is available to the entire
community.
Mayor Wu made the announcement during a
microforest planting event at the Boston Nature Center, a 67-acre wildlife
refuge owned by the Massachusetts Audubon Society in Mattapan. The
microforest will transform an unused parking area with a high-density
planting to mitigate the urban heat island effect, support biodiversity,
and buffer against flooding and erosion. Mass Audubon staff and volunteers,
as well as a team of PowerCorpsBOS members, the City’s youth green jobs
program, will plant 200 native trees and shrubs and an additional 180
perennial plants at the Boston Nature Center.
“Increasing the number of trees in Boston
will enhance our neighborhoods’ livability, health and resilience
benefiting both our climate and our residents,” said Mayor Michelle
Wu. “I’m grateful to our partners at Mass Audubon and Speak for the
Trees for their support in bringing and maintaining trees on private land
to complement the city’s efforts to have a robust density of trees on our
streets, in our parks and across our city-owned properties.”
Boston’s urban forest includes all of the
trees within City boundaries, a portion of which is located on public land,
particularly on sidewalks and in public parks. Over 60% of the tree canopy
in Boston is privately owned and controlled. The efforts through the City’s
new Urban Forestry Division are designed to support trees on public land.
In order to make an impact on the whole urban forest, the City’s efforts on
public land must be matched by work on private land, requiring
collaboration with landowners and other stakeholders. The Tree Alliance
partnership will oversee the development and administration of a tree
planting and maintenance program for trees on privately-owned land. Mass
Audubon is charged with distributing resources to the program participants
while developing a long-term tree planting and maintenance program. This
collaboration will help to support growth of the urban forest in
partnership with landowners and provide public education opportunities to
build awareness around tree care and other topics.
“Having a healthy urban tree canopy is
critically important to our environment and quality of life, as trees not
only beautify our surroundings, but they also provide many environmental
benefits,” said City Council President Ed Flynn. “I applaud the
work that the City of Boston and the Tree Alliance will be doing to expand
and protect our urban canopies, and I look forward to working with them.”
“I applaud the Administration for their deep
commitment to growing and maintaining our City’s tree canopy,” said Councilor
Kendra Lara, Chair of the Committee on Environmental Justice, Resiliency,
and Parks. “The unified private, nonprofit, and government efforts show
that all sectors are critical partners in our efforts toward a more
resilient Boston.”
“Trees play a vital role in our communities
and are necessary in combating the impacts of climate change,” said Councilor
Ricardo Arroyo. “I applaud Mayor Michelle Wu for her leadership and all
the stakeholders whose participation in the Tree Alliance will ensure Boston
is a leader in access to, and protection of, trees.”
In 2022, the City released the Urban Forest
Plan (UFP), to
equitably chart the growth of Boston’s urban forest and the Heat Plan to address the impacts of extreme heat
driven by climate change. Together, these plans provide an approach to
build a safe, healthy, and resilient city for all residents. Maintaining
and planting trees in alignment with the UFP is one strategy to support the
long-term health and safety of residents, particularly in Boston's
Environmental Justice neighborhoods. The data produced by the Heat Plan and
the UFP provide a foundation for where tree planting and maintenance
efforts are needed to equitably expand tree canopy and address the long-term
impacts of extreme heat. To grow a strong urban forest, partnership and
coordination across the public agencies, community groups, and private
organizations who steward urban trees is critical.
“Boston’s history of disinvestment and
redlining has led to inequitable access to trees,” said Reverend
Mariama White-Hammond, Chief of Environment, Energy and Open Space.
“Trees are a crucial component of Boston’s work to adapt to and mitigate
the effects of climate change. I am thrilled that the Tree Alliance will
support our goals of creating healthy, resilient and beautiful
communities.”
Last September, Mayor Wu launched a new
Urban Forestry Division within the Boston Parks and Recreation Department
(BPRD) to expand Boston’s ability to maintain existing and plant new trees.
The Forestry Division has since hired a Director of Urban Forestry, three
new Arborists, an Administrative Assistant, and is still in the process of
hiring new field labor crews. The City of Boston’s tree related workforce
has expanded from five to 16 positions.
The concept for a tree planting and
maintenance program was inspired by similar programs in other cities,
namely L’Alliance
Forêt Urbaine in
Montreal. In this model, the municipality developed an official contractual
relationship with one organization, which serves as the central convener
for the L’Alliance and Fiscal Agent to distribute public funding for
planting and maintenance projects. Together, the Alliance created a
governance structure to allow organizations of all capacities to
participate in decision-making and access public funding resources for
projects. The L’Alliance works together to create and coordinate tree
planting and maintenance efforts. Public funds, issued as grants, are
provided to collaborating partners within the L’Alliance for projects,
working in coordination with private property owners. The Tree Alliance in
Boston will have a strong focus on the needs of Boston’s communities that
are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
“We applaud Mayor Wu’s Tree Alliance
initiative to enhance Boston’s tree canopy so that City
residents—particularly those living in environmental justice
communities—can experience more of the health and climate benefits trees
provide,” said David O’Neill, President of Mass Audubon. “Mass
Audubon is honored to support the alliance of nonprofits that will work
collaboratively with private landowners willing to plant trees on their
properties to provide more equitable access to nature, improve human health
and wildlife diversity, and battle climate change.”
Organizations that are interested in
participating in Boston’s Tree Alliance should contact BostonTreeAlliance@massaudubon.org for more information. Additionally,
Mass Audubon will be hosting an informational kick-off meeting in late
summer/early fall. Mass Audubon will be hiring an Alliance Coordinator to
support programming and implementation. To learn more about this position, visit massaudubon.org/jobs/community-engagement-coordinator-boston.
The Tree Alliance is a key strategy to
expand and preserve Boston’s tree canopy. Boston’s Healthy Places
Initiative focused on increasing
open space, cooling our neighborhoods, and protecting Bostonians from the
impacts of climate change. Healthy Places is a collaboration of three City
plans including the Urban Forest
Plan, Heat
Resilience Solutions for Boston, and the seven year update to the City’s Open Space and
Recreation Plan.
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