Time to move faster: Worcester told to plant more trees to fight climate change

WORCESTER – There is concern that the city’s plan to manage thousands of public trees located along roads and thoroughfares isn't moving fast enough to fight climate change.

Trees take in carbon dioxide and provide shade to cool down from stifling temperatures connected to heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Their roots absorb water to lessen flooding impacts brought on by the climate crisis.

Worcester is finalizing a plan to address these challenges. It’s called the Urban Forest Master Plan, and it's designed to manage more than 23,000 trees in the public right of way, a number that doesn't include trees in public parks. Plus, the plan identifies more than 8,000 planting sites.

Praise and concerns

While some commend the effort to develop a comprehensive plan to manage the city's public trees that provide a host of environmental and aesthetic benefits, they also have concerns about it. The Green Worcester Advisory Committee unanimously voted Monday to recommend two changes to the draft plan.

One calls for the city to plant a minimum of three trees for every one taken down. The feeling here is that the current 1-to-1 ratio in the plan isn’t good enough to promote tree survival.

The committee also wants a defined tree canopy goal for Worcester by January 2025 at the latest. The draft mentions completion in 2026, with annual plantings to potentially begin the same year. This paragraph has been updated.

They said waiting two years to do another study is unacceptable since existing information already highlights where public trees are needed, especially in heat-island neighborhoods in Worcester's inner core.

“We cannot wait another two years, as recommended in the final draft of the Urban Forest Master Plan, to complete yet another study, when the need to enhance our tree canopy is urgent,” reads the statement, in part, that the committee approved.

A consultant hired by Worcester concluded the city needed to plant 34,000 trees that would take up to 20 years to reach maturity, giving the city 50% tree canopy cover to combat extreme heat.

The city’s inner core, including Green Island and Main South, is where the majority of the trees should be planted, according to the consultant. These are heat-island areas with a preponderance of concrete and few street trees compared to other parts of Worcester.

The consultant concluded these areas are at least 10 degrees hotter on some summer days, compared to other parts of Worcester. Clark University studies reached the same conclusion.

More concern

Concern about the urban forest plan extends beyond the Green Worcester Advisory Committee.

Alexander Elton sits on the city’s Urban Tree Forest Commission. When told of the committee's vote, Elton said he supports the 3-to-1 request.

“Three to one is the bare minimum. Less than that is totally irresponsible,” said Elton, who works as the city’s forester in Providence, Rhode Island, and is the director of that city’s Forestry Division.

However, Elton doesn’t believe a defined tree canopy plan is necessary by January 2025, because there’s enough information from the American Forests Tree Equity Score and other sources to start tree planting right away.

“I would not dedicate resources to (a tree canopy plan by January 2025)," said Elton. “A lot of work can be done without that information.”

If Worcester initially hired one planner in its forestry division to review tree work, Elton feels that’s enough to hit the ground running to plant more trees. Elton noted he’s been on the commission for more than a year and heard reports on the urban forest plan from Rob Antonelli, the city’s tree warden. After hearing the updates, Elton said he doesn't have much faith that the city knows how it will get more funds to carry out the plan.

“My concern is that this will all be an exercise, and nothing will be implemented,” said Elton.

Antonelli: Where is the money coming from?

Antonelli wasn’t aware of the committee’s vote when asked about it during a Wednesday phone interview. His first reaction was, “Did the committee identify funding sources for those items?”

Antonelli feels 3-to-1 planting is a good idea, but questions where is the money to pay for it.

As for some who feel another study isn't necessary and will only hold up planting, Antonelli’s response was planting is already underway and can happen in tandem with another study. However, he stressed the amount of planting is determined by how much money is in the pot: “In the end, it comes down to funding."

More trees planted in 2023 vs. 2022

So for this year, a total of 350 trees were planted in Worcester, according to Antonelli, an amount above the 250-300 normally planted each spring. This year's total includes 75 planted by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation through its Greening the Gateway Cities Program that targets heat-island neighborhoods. The 75 trees were planted primarily in the Vernon Hill area, said Antonelli.

Of the remaining 275 planted by the city, Antonelli said many were in the Main South area.

With Worcester's annual forestry budget set at roughly $1.6 million and a staff of 10, Antonelli spoke of the challenges ahead. The department is currently operating with eight employees, and it's been difficult to find two qualified replacements.

$500,000 bump: Not enough

The forestry plan also mentioned the need for a $500,000 yearly budget bump so Worcester's average cost per street tree falls in line with the $80.77 U.S. cities of comparable size spend. But that half-million increase appears to fall way short of what is needed.

Antonelli laid out the challenge by taking the hypothetical case of adopting 3-to-1 planting versus the current 1-to-1. If the higher ratio was included in the final forestry plan, Antonelli said that alone would require an additional $500,000 infusion for the department.

Securing the $500,000 won’t be easy, said Antonelli, because forestry is traditionally funded by local taxes and state and federal grants. But there are other potential sources of money. In Ohio, a state code permits municipalities to collect fees for the planting, care and maintenance of public trees. Some city districts could also be hit with an added tax to pay for tree planting and maintenance.

Antonelli noted city residents already pay an added assessment to fund the Community Preservation Act, and he wonders if they have the stomach for more taxes. Besides, it’s up to the City Council to decide if those options are feasible, he said.

A $23.5 million disappointment

As for how much of a financial blow Worcester's urban forest sustained this year when the U.S. Forest Service rejected Worcester’s application for $23.5 million to plant a total of 7,000 trees on public and private property, Antonelli acknowledged it was a tough pill to swallow.

“It was definitely an item we had looked at for the short term, over the next five years, as a way to make a major dent in our urban forest. Now we have to find other sources of funding to be able to address it.”

The Urban Forest Tree Commission takes up the latest draft of the Urban Forest Master plan during its Dec. 6 public meeting. Final approval is required by the City Council, and Antonelli hopes that will happen early in 2024.

Contact Henry Schwan at henry.schwan@telegram.com. Follow him on X: @henrytelegram.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester told to plant more trees to fight climate change