A large-canopy tree is a very beautiful thing. On this, most people will agree. But is not only beautiful—it also benefits its community. It provides shade and shelter, protects air quality, and reduces air temperatures, water runoff, and human stress. A street lined with such trees is a desirable place to live and work, and… More
Philadelphia has received a great deal of praise for its commitment to using green infrastructure techniques and its 25-year Green City, Clean Waters plan “to protect and enhance our watersheds by managing stormwater with innovative green infrastructure.” But the city’s draft Complete Streets Handbook, released by the Street Department and Mayor’s Office of Transportation and… More
In August, Seattle released their Urban Forest Stewardship Plan, the first comprehensive update to the previous Urban Forest Management Plan (2007) that set the goal of increasing Seattle’s tree canopy cover to 30 percent by 2037. The 2013 Plan is broken up in six sections: guiding principles and integrated approach, the importance of Seattle’s urban… More
I spent a good part of last winter completing a literature review on bioretention media for a revision to the Minnesota Stormwater Manual. So when I attended the Low Impact Development (LID) conference in St. Paul, MN earlier this month, I was very interested to learn of a recent specification coming out of New Zealand:… More
We recently learned that Tigard, OR, a town of about 48,000 people that is part of the Portland metro area, has implemented an impressive soil volume minimum for trees planted in streets and parking lots: up to 1,000 cubic feet of soil per tree.
This article is the first of a series that aims to plant innovative, inspiring, and actionable seeds in the realms of community-building, art, and arboriculture. These seeds will be planted by providing readers with information on funding programs and opportunities for environmental projects alongside discussion of related concepts/projects in contemporary art. What will grow exactly… More
In July, this blog posted about the disagreement among citizens in Portland, OR over proposed changes to their urban tree ordinances. At its heart, the conflict in Portland seems to center on whether the city government should have jurisdiction over privately owned trees. The majority of the commenters on the article felt that the city’s… More
An exciting thing happened on July 23rd in Montgomery County, MD: Bill 35-12, which requires builders to replace trees that are cut down or disturbed during development as well as planting new trees on sites where they may never have existed in the first place, was unanimously passed.
Welcome to the club, Durham! The minimum-soil-volumes-for-street-trees club, that is. Durham’s recently released landscape manual now includes the following soil volume requirements for street trees:
A few weeks ago, non-profit American Forests released their list of the 10 Best Cities for Urban Forests. Many deserving cities made the list, but to me it seemed like something important was missing from the judging criteria.
Soil. Stormwater. Sustainable Infrastructure.
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