Threatened by infestations, climate change and competing demands for space, Madison’s tree canopy will shrink with “potentially disastrous results” unless the city invests more in its trees, a new report says.
After nearly two years of study, the city’s Urban Forestry Task Force is making a series of recommendations — some with potentially significant price tags — to nurture and dramatically increase the area covered by trees from 23% to 40% of Madison’s 80 square miles.
Already, the city has had to deal with infestation by the emerald ash borer that’s forcing the removal of thousands of trees, as well as disease, climate change, loss of mature trees to development, road salt, and cramped space for planting and growth in the public right of way.
On private property, where most of the trees in the city are located, uneven care is also affecting the urban canopy, the report said.
The task force, created by the City Council on Aug. 1, 2017, has offered a 25-page report and recommendations aimed at elevating the importance of trees in the city’s planning, investments and operations and creating a new city role in expanding the canopy on private property.
“We have a quality urban forest in the city,” parks superintendent Eric Knepp said. “However, there are many opportunities to improve it.”
The 46 recommendations call for a preservation ordinance to protect mature trees; a yet-to-be defined grant program for planting trees on private property; focusing attention on neighborhoods that need trees; written standards for how to care for trees; hiring a forestry outreach and education specialist; revisiting old sites that don’t require much landscaping, such as parking lots at big shopping malls, and bringing them up to current standards; and planting more trees in parks than needed to replace those that are lost.
A number of city committees are reviewing the report and the City Council is scheduled to take it up on Sept. 17. Individual recommendations, particularly those requiring funding, will need separate approvals.
“Our urban forest is a fragile resource,” city forester Marla Eddy said. “A sustainable urban forest does not happen at random, but results from a community-wide commitment to its creation and management.”
A fragile resource
Celebrated in poetry, song and verse, trees have multi-faceted value, creating an identity for neighborhoods, cooling homes in the summer, providing habitat for animals, increasing property value, reducing stormwater runoff and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the report said.
Street trees and those in parks intercept an estimated 115 million gallons of rainfall annually, the report found. Citywide, trees remove an estimated 15,000 tons of carbon each year, it said.
“From stormwater to climate change to quality of life, trees add real value to our city,” Knepp said. “We should be considering trees and other green infrastructure as a core part of our problem-solving on these difficult issues.”
Currently, trees cover about 23% of the city’s land area, but they aren’t evenly distributed. Sometimes that’s for logical reasons, but other times it is a result of decisions that don’t place sufficient value on trees and their benefits, the report said.
Researchers estimate the average tree canopy coverage for urban areas in the U.S. is about 27%, but many cities are seeking to significantly increase that. Baltimore, Maryland, for example, is seeking to increase coverage from 28% to 40% by 2040, and Charlotte, North Carolina, from 32% to 50% by 2050.
For Madison, “all (task force) recommendations were made in an effort to work toward the overall goal of 40% canopy,” Eddy said.
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