HEALTHY CITIES
Growing Trees, Training Youth A new initiative in St. Louis aims to do both
Over the next three years, a new Treesilience program will be growing in St. Louis City and North St. Louis County. The Nature Conservancy and Forest ReLeaf of Missouri have been awarded an Urban Forest Resilience grant from the National Association of State Foresters, and a Landscape Scale Restoration grant from the USDA Forest Service. These grants together have helped to establish Treesilience: St. Louis, a tree health and youth green jobs initiative. “We’re experiencing a great deal of canopy loss in St. Louis due to the Emerald Ash Borer” says Rebecca Weaver, TNC’s cities program manager. “Through public-private partnerships with conservationists, local governments, community organizations, and the public health sector, this new initiative will support a youth green jobs program, and conduct science-based, community-driven and equitable canopy restoration throughout St. Louis.” The program will address dead or dying trees on public lands in the City of St. Louis and on private lands of interested homeowners in North St. Louis County. Trees will be removed and replaced through local contracting and community-based replanting. “The costs of tree removal are prohibitive for many homeowners,” says Rebecca. “And standing dead trees pose threats to homes and people as major weather events continue to increase due to climate change.” The program kicks off this fall with a tree assessment, as well as an outreach and prioritization process to determine focus areas for the program. “Our Canopy Crew will train emerging conservation professionals to evaluate the health of standing ash trees to identify trees to be replaced, and communities interested in stewarding replacement trees,” says Meridith Perkins, executive director of Forest ReLeaf of Missouri. She says Treesilience will help to support the Canopy Crew Program and will hire local youth to advance this project’s goals and increase green jobs training opportunities in the region.
Removal of the trees will be completed by project partner, Davey Tree Expert Company, and stump grinding will be completed through local contractors from the community. As part of the work, Davey staff will engage the Canopy Crew in career exposure activities during the removal and treatment process. For every tree removed, the team will replant two trees through Forest ReLeaf of Missouri’s tree nursery and giveaway program. The Canopy Crew will continue to support the community throughout the tree planting process and afterward through the replacement trees’ establishment period. Due to the statewide organizational reach of both TNC and Forest ReLeaf of Missouri, the partners hope this program can be replicated across the state. “There are many communities throughout Missouri that stand to lose tree canopy, and that suffer from inequitable access to tree canopy already,” says Rebecca. “We hope the Treesilience pilot program inspires other communities to proactively pursue similar initiatives that enhance urban landscapes and provide learning opportunities for young people.”
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THIS PAGE Tree planting © Courtesy of Forest ReLeaf of Missouri
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