This local nonprofit has big dreams of a new Chicago
Excerpt from this story from Sierra Club:
The block was lined with identical boxy brick homes built to house workers in the early 1900s. Maple trees shaded the sidewalk—a good sign at first glance. But Citlally Fabela, a forestry program coordinator out making the rounds with Garduno, saw warning signs that the trees might not be there for much longer. Some species of maple have a reputation for getting their roots tangled in city water infrastructure. Branches were sagging over the street—a sign that the trees had been disregarded by the city and were now a risk to anyone passing under them.
Fabela worked for Openlands, a local nonprofit with big dreams of regreening Chicago. Research has repeatedly shown that trees improve local air quality and make neighborhoods more walkable, less vulnerable to flooding, and cooler during hot weather. A recent study published in PLOS One, however, revealed inequalities in tree distribution. Blocks in low-income urban areas were over 30°F warmer than those in mid- and higher-income neighborhoods, in part because they had, on average, 15 percent less tree cover. And like many low-income neighborhoods, La Villita is surrounded by industry—factories, auto repair shops, a metal recycling plant. Improving its tree cover can't negate that pollution, but it could mitigate it. The flyers that Garduno was carrying explained how to request new trees from the city.
Their offer to help request trees was usually met with suspicion, then excitement.
Since late spring 2022, Openlands has been working in conjunction with other community groups to reach the city's goal of planting 75,000 trees over the next five years, with an emphasis on neighborhoods with the least shade. Shortly after that goal was announced, the Chicago Tribune investigated the city's tree-planting efforts and found that over the past 10 years, Chicago had lost two trees for every one planted and that even the 75,000-tree goal wouldn't be enough to replace the trees already lost. The Tribune also found that neighborhoods in the higher socioeconomic half of the city saw twice as many trees planted as those in the lower half. (In April, the Biden administration said it would make $1 billion available for tree planting in cities, as part of the community forestry provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act.)