Statement to City Council, Nov. 2019

 I’d like to start by saying that I was one of many who participated on Nov. 7th in the Mayor’s Tree Planting Day at John Hunt Park.

It was the second year for me, so I’ll say again (as I did a year ago) that it was very well organized, had a lot of enthusiastic participants and effectively demonstrated that trees are a really important part of Huntsville’s urban environment. They’re a critical factor in maintaining a high quality of life in the city. So, thanks much to Operation Green Team for again putting on this event and to the folks who came out and participated in it. I understand that 300 trees were planted this time around.

I need to add a big “however” comment though. Planting young trees in John Hunt Park is definitely good for our environment and for the city’s overall tree population. But it doesn’t help with a problem in some of the city’s residential neighborhoods. Based on my observations and monitoring for over a year now, I’m convinced we’re seeing gradual tree attrition in some of the neighborhoods because of mature tree losses, without enough replacement planting to make up for the losses. The net result is thinning of the urban forest, the tree canopy.

There’s a substantial investment in new tree planting, from city funds, for activities like the Mayor’s Tree Planting Festival. Also, developers are required to plant trees (?) when they’ve built a new subdivision.

But when it comes to planting trees in existing neighborhoods, the city’s current mode of operation is that if residents want trees planted, say on city right of way in front of their house, they need to pay for purchase of the tree and a city crew will do the planting.

I know of numerous tree removals from ROW land in and around Five Points, just in the past year or two during which I’ve been keeping up with such activity. I have not seen replacement planting for those losses. This then is part of a trend in Five Points which I refer to as gradual attrition of the tree population. I should add that there has been some new tree planting on private property, just not at the same rate as the losses.

I have an idea for what could help solve this problem, and it’s simple in a way, though not necessarily simple or easy to implement. What’s needed is for the same kind of participation, energy, enthusiasm and passion that are demonstrated at the John Hunt Park events to be organized and brought to bear on the tree situation in the neighborhoods where many of us live and work. This could be done through creation of a pro-tree advocacy organization, as has been done in other cities including -- to cite a few in the southeastern U.S. -- Nashville, Atlanta, Montgomery, Asheville and Charlotte.

So, thanks to all the city people who made those events happen. Overall, I think the city is doing a good job in this area. BUT, I do feel more can be done and that protection of trees is important enough that we SHOULD be doing more. That’s why I plan to come back, probably in a couple weeks, with some additional ideas.

For now I’d just like to urge everybody to not take something like trees for granted. Please look at them more closely. Think about them and the benefits they provide -- in the city as well as “out there.”