Historic investment made in urban trees across U.S.

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An inequity of tree cover is behind the historic $1.5 billion in President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act that’s set aside for the federal Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Program to fund tree-planting projects over the next decade. With a focus on underserved communities, the initiative marks a massive increase from the roughly $36 million typically distributed annually to the program. Millions more for tree projects also have been available from Biden’s infrastructure law and the American Rescue Plan Act. Urban forestry advocates, who’ve argued for years about the benefits of trees in cities, see this moment as an opportunity to transform underserved neighborhoods that have grappled with dirtier air, dangerously high temperatures and other challenges because they don’t have a leafy canopy overhead. Advocates also predict this is the beginning of a long-term financial commitment to trees, especially amid dire warnings from scientists about global warming. “That’s really the goal is to keep the community healthy and benefiting from these trees as the critical city infrastructure that they really are,” said Jenni Shockling, senior manager of urban forestry with American Forests in Detroit. Shockling says 300 workers will be planting 75,000 trees in the Motor City over the next five years. Trees help suck up heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reduce erosion and flooding. They’re also credited with helping to save lives, considering heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Seattle is planting 8,000 trees over five years on public and private property and 40,000 in parks and natural areas, an initiative partly financed by federal funds. Seattle also plans to require three trees be planted for every healthy site-appropriate tree removed from city property. This article was provided by The Associated Press.