Harry Jaffe: Tree time in the nation’s capital

Friday morning I walked out of my door to fetch the newspaper and saw the city government had been at work. Someone had dug fresh holes in the grass between the sidewalk and the street. Each was precise and square. The soil had been stirred and leavened with a dark planting mix. I counted a half dozen on our block of 32nd Street Northwest.

No doubt the District’s Urban Forestry Administration had been by with shovels and plans to park some trees. And for good reason. In last week’s tree summit, the District received a B- in the second annual tree report card — a drop from last year’s B.

“This is a snapshot of what we are doing,” says Mike Galvin, deputy director for Casey Trees, the nonprofit organization that hosted the summit and graded the city. “Mayor Fenty raised the bar, and measured against that, we have a lot of work to do.”

In his “Green D.C.” program, Fenty set a goal of increasing the tree cover by more than a third over the next 25 years. That means planting 216,300 new trees — an average of 8,600 a year.

One might say — why bother? In a city where homeless folk get crammed into halls, murderous kids blow away innocent people for a mistakenly lost bracelet, and the mayor had to slice $200 million from the budget, do we really need to worry about trees?

Short answer: absolutely.

First, the nation’s capital has always been a city of trees, from the parklands to the neighborhoods to the National Mall. Keeping the tree canopy healthy makes the city cooler in the summer and more beautiful all year round.

Second, federal law says the city has to keep planting trees. The Environmental Protection Agency used the Clean Water Act to force states whose waters drain into the Chesapeake Bay to plant thousands of trees, in an effort to keep the Bay clean.

“Now we know how far we have to go,” says Mike Galvin. “We have a little catching up to do.”

Last year D.C.’s Urban Forestry Administration planted 3,751 trees. Workers dig and plant and hope for the best. Casey Trees takes a more neighborhood-friendly approach.

“We rely on volunteers,” says Galvin. “Hundreds and hundreds volunteer every season to come out and plant trees. It’s fantastic.”

Philanthropist Betty Brown Casey seeded the program with $50 million in 2001. It plants about 1,400 trees a year. Communities apply for trees, they have to commit to take care of them, Casey comes with the tools and the trees.

“The community comes to us,” Galvin says.

Communities and individuals can come to caseytrees.org for advice, $50 rebates on trees, help with making their private property more “river friendly” by preventing runoff.

Props to D.C.’s urban foresters, but one of my neighbors was not amenable to a new tree. Workers dug the hole a few inches from the entrance to their house. They left a note: “Please don’t plant here.”

Wonder if anyone will heed their wishes.

E-mail Harry Jaffe at [email protected].

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