Front porch: Urban forest management takes vision, commitment

Jeff Perry can swing around in his desk chair, type an address into his computer and show you any tree in Spokane . A computer program displays aerial images of puffy-looking green masses – updated every two years by the city and Avista Corp. – along with the trees’ stats: species, diameter, height, spread.

Among the oldest and biggest: a horse chestnut at Corbin Art Center, on West 7th Avenue, 80 feet tall with a 52-inch diameter and 60-foot spread. Nearby, at the Corbin House, a 50-foot-tall European beech laciniata with a 42-inch diameter and a 60-foot spread.

Using factors including species, size, environment and condition, Perry – the city’s arborist and fill-in urban forester – can even tell you a tree’s worth in dollars.

For the horse chestnut: $13,000. For the beech: $31,700, although really, Perry says, it would cost $80,000 to $100,000 to move such a tree. That’s how you get a tree’s monetary value: by figuring how much it would cost to replace.

Perry figures the entire public part of the urban forest – park trees and street trees – would be valued around $300 million.

Of course, judging from the reaction of some Spokane residents to recent hullabaloos related to tree-pruning and -removing, some trees are priceless. This spring, a contractor hired by Avista Corp. to clear branches from power lines raised hackles by sawing big ugly chunks out of the middles of trees near Grand Boulevard and 37th Avenue . Residents sued the city over last year’s removal of 17 old trees on South Bernard Street as part of a street-widening project.

But the urban forest is bigger than 17 trees, and more complicated. About 8,000 “public trees” are inventoried in the computer program, with 70,000 to go. That’s on top of an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 trees on private property (which are only counted if they’re significant somehow, like the Corbin trees). Also to think about: species diversity and soil types and fungus-carrying beetles, along with power lines near branches and sewer lines near roots.

For Perry, managing the urban forest requires a long view.

“Really everything I do until I’m dead for this job is going to be for the benefit of the next generation,” he said.

Meanwhile, problems that crop up are often the result of decisions made by previous generations. Perry sees the product – good and bad – of other people’s efforts long ago. He might never see the product of his own.

The hardest part of his job, Perry said, is convincing the public that a tree must come down for the benefit of the public, and not only that, the ethereal public of the future.

But he’s eager to talk about those benefits.

Urban forests contain both publicly and privately owned trees in parks, along streets, near schools, in people’s yards, everywhere. They may be remnant forests – native species preserved during development – or imported trees planted by residents. Or, like Spokane ‘s urban forest, a mix of both.

The University of Washington ‘s Center for Urban Horticulture cites the environmental benefits of trees. If you’ve been to elementary school, you won’t be surprised that trees are good for carbon dioxide exchange, reducing energy use and air pollution and improving water quality.

Scientists also have published studies citing societal benefits of urban forests. UW’s Kathleen Wolf, who runs the Urban Horticulture center, found that people shopping in downtowns with trees thought more highly of those downtowns and their merchants. People even said they were willing to spend more – 9 percent to 12 percent more – in downtowns with quality urban forests.

Other studies show that trees slow people down, whether they’re walking or driving and that the presence of trees reduces crime rates in particular areas. “It has to do with people’s sense of well-being,” Perry said. Urban forests mitigate stormwater runoff and provide shade.

Managing the urban forest is big enough job for two people, at least.

Aside from a couple of seasonal arborists, though, Perry is on his own for now. He became the interim urban forester two years ago, and he’s still waiting for the city to hire a permanent one so he can go back to being the full-time arborist – a job he prefers because it’s spent in the field, or forest, rather than an office.

Marlene Feist, a spokeswoman for the city, said officials are interviewing candidates for a $50,000 to $61,000 job that combines two unfilled city positions into one. The urban forester’s job will be combined with that of the horticulture supervisor, who is responsible for grounds at Riverfront and Manito parks.

To have one person responsible for so much would be “ludicrous,” Perry wrote in an e-mail message.

“Horticulture and arboriculture/urban forestry are two completely different disciplines, and by having one person oversee both you will end up ultimately neglecting both.”

If such as person is ever found, Perry would gladly turn over the paperwork and get back to nature. “We take care of the trees that take care of us,” he said.