Urban forestry programs help connect communities

Imagine a public asset consisting of nearly 100,000 shares with an estimated total value of more than $500 million – a commodity that not only helps increase property values, reduces air and noise pollution, but saves energy and improves quality of life. Available to everyone, this asset is Spokane’s community canopy, said Angel Spell, the city’s new urban forester. One of Spell’s goals since starting earlier this spring is to find funding for an inventory of the city’s public trees. Spokane’s urban forestry department has collected data on 11,291 trees so far – only about an eighth to a tenth of the estimated number of trees located in city parks, planting strips in the right-of-ways, natural park areas, forest lands and other public spaces in Spokane. Those trees that have been examined have a total appraised value of $71 million, according to Spell. Three heritage trees alone – an elm, an apricot and a horse chestnut located in Pioneer Park near the Corbin Arts Center – have been valued at almost $100,000. “Managing anything is impossible if you don’t know the condition of your resource and its status,” Spell explained. “Trees are a community asset with economic value. They’re worth millions of dollars.” Most cities with urban forestry programs try to keep an inventory of the trees. Spokane, however, only has a partial inventory. Jeff Perry, the city’s only full-time arborist, has been working on counting park and street trees for the last few years. But until Perry’s work, Spokane’s trees haven’t been assessed since 1996 when a Spokane Park Board grant enabled the city to hire Natural Paths Urban Forestry Consultants, a Chicago-based company that counted nearly 45,000 public trees here with a total value of more than $108 million. The information isn’t just outdated; it’s also inaccurate because it happened before numerous trees were destroyed during Ice Storm 1996. Although, the data proved to be beneficial because it enabled Spokane to access federal FEMA dollars to remove tree hazards caused by the storm. Nearby counties lacking a tree inventory were not eligible for these. Traditionally, in the Pacific Northwest, the cost of a tree was often determined by its timber value, Spell noted. This type of measurement, however, doesn’t compare with a tree’s value in the urban environment. A community benefits from its urban canopy several ways. Trees improve air quality by removing pollutants in the atmosphere, provide shade, reduce energy costs, promote health, increase property values and provide beauty to neighborhoods, business districts and other urban areas. “People instinctually get that – they appreciate a canopied business district or neighborhood,” Spell said. “But we need to measure how trees benefit people and the places they live. When we think of how trees impact a community by providing cleaner air, water quality, lowering crime rates, bringing more business to a district where people shop, how many millions is all that worth?” In the urban forestry realm, trees are appraised using a replacement cost method that looks at the species, its condition, size and location. Spell – whose previous experiences include working as the urban forester in Hayden, Idaho, and then later Post Falls — isn’t just well-versed in figuring out the value of a trees and urban forests. She also has first-hand knowledge of what it takes to create and maintain an inventory of a city’s trees and the importance of determining a community’s “green infrastructure.” Her experience in urban forestry began a decade ago in Yakima, under the guidance of charles chesney (Editor’s Note: He spells his name with lowercase letters), a forester with the Department of Natural Resources. At that time, Spell was finishing her master’s degree in environmental policy and management at the University of Denver. Her thesis entailed an evaluation of Yakima’s urban forest, which included an inventory of the city’s trees and measuring their value. Spell’s interest in trees, however, started with a love for the environment formed while growing up in Great Falls, Mont. She always has reveled in the outdoors – hiking, biking, finding connections with the natural environment. She pursued her interest in the environment by studying biological sciences at the University of Colorado-Boulder, where she lived for 11 years and spent three seasons as a wildland firefighter. She left Boulder in 1999 and moved to other parts of the country including Texas and New York City before moving to Yakima, where her work with chesney led her to become an urban forester. Spell is also a certified arborist and a certified tree risk assessor. The urban forest consists not only of trees in public areas, Spell explained. It also includes trees in homeowners’ yards plus spaces owned by businesses and other private entities. As the urban forester, Spell has jurisdiction only over public trees, but through educational programs, can help people manage private trees to protect and maintain the entire community canopy. The complete inventory, although a priority, is actually a small portion of her work. She and her crew — a full-time arborist and two seasonal employees – receive funding only for tree planting, maintenance and pruning. In order to finish the inventory plus any educational outreach, Spell applies for grants from the Department of Natural Resources and other state and federal entities. All these efforts, however, support Spell’s four goals as the new urban forester – nurture stewardship; promote community outreach and education; obtain grants and other sources of funding; and create partnerships with all the departments within the City of Spokane, local and regional agencies, non-profits such as the Lands Council, companies such as Avista and other stakeholders. One of the projects Spell has launched is known as the NeighborWoods program, which aims to educate people on proper tree planting and care as well as connect neighborhoods with the city’s urban forestry program. In terms of community outreach, Spell plans to continue promoting Tree City USA, a program that recognizes urban forestry efforts nationwide, and educate the public about the benefits and economic value of trees. (Spokane is currently one of about 3,400 communities nationwide with a “Tree City” status. It has maintained that distinction for the past seven years and even received a prestigious Tree City USA “Growth Award” earlier this year for improving its level of tree care. ) Spell also hopes the City of Spokane can become involved with Community Canopy, a tree care education partnership involving three North Idaho communities and the Spokane County Conservation District. “I am very encouraged by the level of energy and excitement about urban forestry that people have shown,” said Spell, who has been attending various neighborhood council meetings to promote NeighborWoods and answer questions about trees. “People want their communities to be as beautiful and livable as possible and they understand that trees play a part.” Spell said she is especially encouraged by support from residents of the Logan neighborhood. Several wrote letters to the Department of Natural Resources, encouraging the agency to provide grant money to continue Spokane’s efforts to collect data on its public trees. Logan residents also volunteered with the city’s urban forestry department. “The urban forest helps connect people to each other as well as to their environment,” Spell said. “It also brings an understanding of how our natural environment and built environment intersect.”