Citizens push $1 million program to save Seattle's urban trees
The shumard oak on a vacant lot in northwest Seattle was planted more than a century ago by Josephine Denny, a daughter of one of the city's founding families. Its trunk measured more than 3 feet across. The owner wanted it axed to make way for a house, even though the tree was on the edge of the property.
Across the lake in Kirkland, two old trees were also tagged to be cut down, squeezed out by development. One was a Western red cedar with drooping branches, a towering presence on the corner of the lot on Market Street. On an opposite corner stood a large old cypress.
What happened to the trees?
The cedar and cypress are still standing, thanks to Kirkland's tree preservation codes, which rank among the strictest in the region. By flipping his plans around, the developer made space for trees and houses.
The historic oak is now a stump. A neighbor begged the city to save the tree, but the landowner hired an arborist who said the oak -- which can live 500 years -- was "not in a condition that would make it a candidate for retention." A separate arborist called it a "champion" -- one of the best of its kind in the state.
Although the oak was unusual, its loss is a familiar story in Seattle, where officials say that half the tree canopy has disappeared since the 1970s as development increases and smaller homes give way to apartments, townhouses and megahomes.
Environmentalists eager to save urban trees are promoting the Evergreen Cities campaign, naming it one of their top four priorities for the legislative session that starts next Monday. They're pushing a $1 million program to improve urban forests statewide.
Protections for urban trees vary widely in the Puget Sound region, contributing to a dramatic decline in the tree cover. Satellite images from the '70s are dominated by green swaths with black specks of buildings and roads. Recent pictures are practically reversed, with black oozing across the image and green patches shining through.
It's an urban deforestation seen nationwide. About 25 percent of city tree canopy vanished over the past 30 years, based on satellite image analysis by American Forests, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group.
"There are millions of dollars of work that the trees do to clean the water and air," said Deborah Gangloff, executive director of the forestry group. "That's why the significant loss across the country is so alarming."
In addition to reducing air and water pollution, trees curb the flow of stormwater runoff, slow erosion, provide homes for birds and wildlife and absorb carbon dioxide, which contributes to climate change.
Governments globally are waking up to these benefits. The United Nations last year met a goal of planting 1 billion trees worldwide. The mayor of Los Angeles pledged to plant a million trees in his city. The Evergreen Cities campaign could be the first effort to try to "retree" an entire state.
"Our current population rate is projected to create 29 cities the size of Tacoma or Spokane by the middle of this century," said Heath Packard, policy director for Audubon Washington, which is leading the campaign. "We want to make sure we're doing what we can to retain our trees."
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Environmentalists push $1 million program to save urban trees
