Tree Equity & Community Engagement

In case you missed it, our last newsletter highlighted the overlap of low tree canopy, historic racist redlining practices, and high urban heat-related health impacts that disproportionately burden communities of color and low income areas. In addition, we offered a “Heat, Health & Trees” session at the Chesapeake Watershed Forum that is now available on Youtube.

In this newsletter, we focus on the critical role of effective community engagement in fostering a more equitable distribution of canopy cover. One story features a community tree planting partnership in Richmond, Virginia, where recent heat mapping efforts have identified low canopy neighborhoods in need of shade.

The Baltimore Tree Trust story, as well as the 4 tree equity case studies linked below as Additional Resources are one product of the Growing Tree Canopy through Environmental Justice project recently completed in our region. We hope you’ll dive into the strategies and lessons offered in these examples and share your own stories with us at info@chesapeaketrees.net.

An Urban Forestry Collaborative Plants Deep Community Roots

by Jenny McGarvey, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay

Engaging a community before and after trees are planted is a difficult task, but an urban forestry collaborative working in the Carver neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia offers a solution. Here, community members weren’t just the recipients of new trees, but partners providing input and buy-in every step of the way.

Baltimore Tree Trust: Doing More Together

Baltimore’s lead tree-planting partner, The Baltimore Tree Trust, works to restore Tree Equity by increasing canopy cover in neighborhoods. They built community trust through word-of-mouth, informing tree planting and maintenance, one neighborhood at a time.

Story from Vibrant Cities Lab used with permission.