Urban forests promote better health, help cool neighborhoods during heat waves, and prevent flooding.
My family planted a Jane magnolia tree in our front yard on Earth Day. We picked this tree because it will be happy in our changing climate, it sits on our town’s “preferred tree list,” it won’t shade our roof-top solar, and my husband likes pink flowers. But despite our best efforts, it didn’t blossom like we’d expected – we probably weren’t watering it enough.
We’re not the only ones struggling to grow trees. Across New England, property owners, community organizations, and cities and towns struggle with growing and preserving the trees, shrubs, plants, and mosses that comprise our urban forests.
Given the many health and climate benefits of trees in urban areas – more to come on those below – we at CLF recently took a deep dive into strategies to…