Arbor Day and the Geography of Urban Trees

Los Angeles, like many other cities, has a goal for planting trees. But it’s tough to be an urban tree - no soil, sidewalks crowding you, people stapling things to you… The Washington Post, in honor of Arbor Day, the last Friday in April, discusses many of the initiatives and challenges.

And, then there’s the geography of urban trees:

Driving around Los Angeles in his Prius is Andy Lipkis, the founder of TreePeople, one of the nation’s most experienced organizations of “citizen foresters,” who is helping Mayor Villaraigosa reach his million mark. Lipkis points to shady boulevards lined with ficus trees and then to entire neighborhoods devoid of any shrubbery at all, and he confirms what satellite imagery tells us: Poor people don’t have plants. The thinnest tree cover is, no surprise, over the city’s most impoverished neighborhoods. Where ritzy Bel Air has 53 percent canopy coverage, gritty South Central has only 7 percent.

And, then there’s the challenge of finding spots for new trees:

When Los Angeles launched its “Million Trees LA” project, it was assumed there would be plenty of room, but as it turns out, “the space is actually quite tight,” says McPherson, the scientist with the Forest Service who surveyed the city’s bio-inventory with the help of aerial reconnaissance and computer algorithms. McPherson found just 1.3 million spots to “realistically” plant in Los Angeles, most in the yards of private homes.