RE-TREE WEST BALTIMORE
“Temperatures on a scorching summer day can vary as much as 20 degrees across different parts of the same city, with poor or minority neighborhoods often bearing the brunt of that heat.
- New York Times
Source: New York Times, 2019, “Summer in the City is Hot, But Some Neighborhoods Suffer More”
Visit or call TreeBaltimore to request free street and yard trees:
TreeBaltimore.org 410-369-6109
Let’s Turn Red to Blue
The idea is simple - a community with good tree cover is happier, healthier, cooler, more productive, safer - and using a lot less energy, which means savings for every homeowner and business, and good news for the climate. Tree covered blocks cost the city less, since, among other benefits, there’s better filtration of what runs in to the sewer system. And according to numerous studies, there’s a lot less crime. Birds, insects and other animals have a place to call home, which means a higher quality of life also for those humans living around them. And kids, let’s not forget, have more things to climb. So everyone wins.
Bottom line: trees are about the cheapest way to add wide-ranging value to a community. And after a small initial outlay, they’re the gift that keeps on giving.
The value of trees isn’t a new idea - worldwide, it’s well-establish fact among elected and community leaders, developers, planners and community health officials. But at least in HUB West Baltimore, we haven’t picked this low-hanging fruit yet, so to speak. HUB West Baltimore CDC is intent on changing that.
The goal: 40% contiguous tree canopy cover in the Focus Area by 2040.
That would meet the UN’s Food and Agricultural Administration’s definition of a forest. Can you imagine it? Central West Baltimore classified as a forest? It’s within the reach of current programs, and there’s already funding for many of them.
Further Reading and Media
- See a New York Times interactive on how tree cover is often tied to inequity.
- Listen to an NPR story on how Redlining in the 1930s is linked to hotter neighborhoods today.
- Listen to a story about Baltimore Tree Trust trying to change those inequities, one tree at a time.
- See HUB West Baltimore’s Tree Equity Score.
- Read how the federal Infrastructure Bill’s made available $100 million (over 5 years) for the federal Healthy Street Program