Which are the leafiest neighborhoods?

Brown areas are less leafy than green areas in tree equity maps like this one (Credit: American Forests)

Urban trees provide economic, social, environmental, and health benefits, but how do we ensure every community has the canopy they need? Join the Quincy Tree Alliance and the Thomas Crane Public Library for an online discussion on tree equity on February 15 at 7 pm.

Molly Henry, senior manager of climate and health at American Forests, will introduce the national Tree Equity Score Explorer tool that her organization developed for every urbanized area in the country. The tool shows that wealthier neighborhoods are often significantly leafier than poorer neighborhoods with more people of color. For example, about 50% of Boston’s West Roxbury neighborhood is shaded by trees, while that figure is less than 10% for East Boston. Henry will also go over Quincy’s canopy maps.

David Meshoulam, executive director of Speak for the Trees, Boston, will discuss his organization’s work on tree equity at the local level in Boston. “There are two sides to that tree equity equation,” he says. “One is who has access to trees and the benefits that trees provide. The other, that we’re working towards, is who has access to those workforce jobs in tree care. The work has to come from the community, for the community, by the community. A tree is not something that you plant and walk away from.”

Meshoulam will also briefly discuss legislation now being considered at the statehouse aimed at planting trees in the places that need it most, with the aim of reaching 60% tree canopy cover in Massachusetts cities and towns.

Finally, Quincy’s tree warden, Chris Hayward, will discuss new initiatives aimed at increasing the canopy coverage and tree equity here. One is a plan to offer reduced-cost tree plantings in the front yards of Quincy residents, and the other is a plan to get citizens involved in inventorying the trees here, which will help determine where new plantings are needed. “The inventory, when it’s completed, will be a huge tool,” says Hayward.

After short presentations, speakers will take questions from participants. To join the event, go to https://bit.ly/qtaequity on Feb. 15 at 7 pm, or dial (646) 558-8656 and enter meeting ID 838 7285 6404. You can also watch the event, either live or after the fact, at https://www.youtube.com/c/ThomasCranePublicLibrary.

Quincy Tree Alliance is a volunteer group that works to sustain and expand our city’s tree canopy. To learn more, visit quincytreealliance.com or email quincytreealliance@gmail.com.

Historic treasures should be preserved

A red oak tree estimated to be 196 years old has been recommended for removal on Sims Road (Credit: Julie Mallozzi)

Imagine a machine first built in John Adams’s time that has chugged along without a hiccup for 200 years. It would undoubtedly be treated with kid gloves, and every effort would be made to preserve and protect it. Perhaps the Quincy History Museum would display it so that people could stand in awe of the engineering marvel and feel a visceral connection to the past in the rhythmic shifting of its components.

Well, such a machine actually exists – right here in our fair city. Not only that, but this machine has been proven to make people happier, healthier, and wealthier, to prevent flooding, and to fight climate change. What is this astonishing contraption? It’s hiding in plain sight, an unsung hero that makes a city street feel like part of a neighborhood: a mature tree.

Trees improve air quality, lower stress, boost moods, reduce crime levels, and improve home values. They also lower heating and cooling costs, reduce stormwater runoff, and remove the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, storing the carbon as wood and releasing the oxygen back into the air.

Mature trees are especially powerful weapons against climate change. As William Moomaw, an emeritus professor of environmental policy at Tufts, said in a Yale magazine interview: "We’ve seen a lot of interest lately in planting more trees…. These are great things to do, but they will not make much of a difference in the next two or three decades because little trees just don’t store much carbon," he said. "The most effective thing that we can do is to allow trees that are already planted, that are already growing, to continue growing."

After learning about the importance of mature trees to the climate, I was saddened to learn that the city is considering cutting down three trees estimated to be between 100 and 200 years old on Sims Road, near Beechwood Knoll School. 

I know there will be cases where mature trees will have to be taken down for safety reasons – perhaps on Sims Road. But I believe that tree removal should be done only as a last resort, after every measure to preserve the trees has been exhausted. 

One concern raised at a recent hearing about the Sims Road trees was sidewalk safety, as the roots have lifted the surrounding walkways. The city’s tree warden, Chris Hayward, mentioned that one way of addressing the issue is to get easements from homeowners to build sidewalks that curve around tree trunks and onto their land. Others on the call mentioned another workaround: building sidewalks that rise and fall like bridges over the roots. 

Mr. Hayward seemed to feel that some of these solutions would be too time consuming or costly, and certainly, city budgets are tight – particularly now, in a global pandemic.

But I would argue that mature trees are so valuable to our community – which has suffered tens of millions of dollars in storm damage in recent years – that spending money to safely preserve the trees would be cheaper than the costs associated with losing them. These costs include the damage from increased flooding – because trees slow and absorb stormwater runoff, and the loss of tax revenue from decreases in home values. (In 2008, a US government study estimated that street trees increased property tax revenues for the city of Portland, Oregon, by $13 million per year.)

Mature trees are also unmatched in their ability to soak up and lock away atmospheric carbon dioxide. The cheapest mechanical tree scientists are working to develop (which would remove carbon dioxide from the air much faster than a live tree but would not be able to store it) would cost at least $50,000.

Let’s not be short-sighted when weighing the costs of maintaining Quincy’s mature trees. We literally cannot buy machines that do as much for our, and our planet’s, health and safety. Let’s treat them as the national treasures they are and work to survey and preserve them alongside the Adams birthplaces and the Old House at Peacefield. Email quincytreealliance@gmail.com if you’d like to be part of this effort!

Maggie McKee

Chair, Quincy Tree Alliance