Tree Huggers

cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/environment@beehaw.org/t/568185

"We are investing in activities that are harmful for forests at far higher rates than we are investing in activities that are beneficial for forests," the assessment coordinator said.

cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/news@lemmy.world/t/497705

Police investigating after former tree of the year winner, estimated to be several hundred years old, felled

Most of the described solutions center around tree planting. They are just the most effective way to cool cities.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/5116952

A beautiful Catalpa tree shared by a Lemmy user.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/5047254

Hundreds of communities around the country will share more than $1 billion in federal money to help them plant and maintain trees under a federal program that is intended to reduce extreme heat, benefit health and improve access to nature.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will announce the $1.13 billion in funding for 385 projects at an event Thursday morning in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The tree plantings efforts will be focused on marginalized areas in all 50 states as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and some tribal nations.

“We believe we can create more resilient communities in terms of the impacts of climate,” Vilsack told reporters in previewing his announcement. “We think we can mitigate extreme heat incidents and events in many of the cities.”

Mirror: https://archive.ph/0zviy

Courtesy of /u/orchid_breeder on Reddit. For those unfamiliar with the significance of this tree: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahaina_Banyan_Tree

It was badly damaged in the fires and many thought the tree might not recover.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/2000908

The paper is here

Hello fellow tree huggers,

Question: if I have a plot of land in the Western Washington Cascades, should I plant redwoods and/or sequoias on it on not? I would do this in addition to the obvious douglas firs, western red cedars, western hemlocks and various appropriate ground shrubs/ferns.

I can see a lot of articles about "assisted migration", many of which reference redwoods, but also all of which state that the idea is controversial. The idea is that Northern California is becoming less habitable for these trees, and Washington and BC become more like how California used to be, so the redwood forest will naturally migrate northwards. However, climate change is happening too fast for a slow-moving forest to realistically keep up.

The proponents argue that it's a way to preserve an important species, especially one which is a great carbon sink.

The doubters argue that some species of plants wouldn't survive the process, or could bring pests, or at least be susceptible them.

I can't tell if those drawbacks really pertain to redwoods/sequoias in Washington though. There are hundreds of them around the Seattle area that are doing just fine, more than a hundred years after residents planted them.

What do y'all think? Do it or no?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/4020205

Neighborhoods with more trees and green space stay cooler, while those coated with layers of asphalt swelter. Lower-income neighborhoods tend to be hottest, a city report found, and they have the least tree canopy.

The same is true in cities across the country, where poor and minority neighborhoods disproportionately suffer the consequences of rising temperatures. Research shows the temperatures in a single city, from Portland, Oregon, to Baltimore, can vary by up to 20 degrees. For a resident in a leafy suburb, a steamy summer day may feel uncomfortable. But for their friend a few neighborhoods over, it’s more than uncomfortable — it’s dangerous.

cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/worldnews@lemmy.ml/t/395101

A few hundred people have turned out to protect historic century-old ginkgo trees that are likely to be chopped down under a controversial redevelopment for a beloved Tokyo park district.