Seattle is losing more tree canopy despite efforts

Seattle pledged to enhance its tree cover in 2007 however has really been dropping floor, main one official to place forth an ordinance that may make it more durable to take away timber.

Why it issues: Bushes are more and more understood as one of many key instruments in city areas for mitigating local weather change in addition to addressing inequity in tree protection throughout neighborhoods.

Catch up fast: The 2021 Tree Cover Evaluation, launched by Seattle’s Workplace of Sustainability and Setting earlier this 12 months, acknowledged the lack of 255 acres of tree cover since 2016.

• A few of that loss got here from timber that had reached the top of their lifespan, Patti Bakker, city forestry adviser on the Workplace of Sustainability and Setting, informed Axios.
• However some was attributable to hotter, drier summers that stress previous and new timber, making them extra prone to pests and ailments, she mentioned.
• In an effort to succeed in the objective of accelerating the cover to 30% by 2037, town has already carried out a variety of tree-saving measures, together with a two-for-one tree substitute coverage and applications to extend plantings in forested areas, streets, developed parks and personal property, Bakker mentioned.

What they’re saying: “What this tells us is the investments we have been making are usually not sufficient,” Bakker mentioned.

Driving the information: A partial answer to town’s vanishing cover is sought with a proposed ordinance that may decrease the diameter threshold for “important” or “distinctive” timber, making them more durable to raze.

• The proposal, backed by Metropolis Councilmember Dan Strauss, would add protections to timber whereas additionally clarifying when a tree may be reduce down.

• It additionally would add flexibility for builders who, for instance, might discover allowances in setback and hardscape necessities the place a tree is to be saved.
• Strauss mentioned it will buffer the extremes between those that need each tree protected and those that argue any extra regulation is burdensome and provides to the price of housing.

Sure, however: Ray Larson, curator of UW Botanic Gardens, informed Axios he appreciates what the proposal is making an attempt to do however believes it is “too one-size-fits-all” and lacks incentives.

• He’d wish to see one thing that motivates builders to plant various and diversified sorts of timber as a substitute of the restricted palette often chosen.

What’s subsequent: The proposal is anticipated to be voted out of the land use committee that Strauss chairs on the finish of April.