Trees as a Force for Equity A grassroots approach to combatting Nashville’s urban heat islands
JULY/AUGUST 2023
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here is a sense of pride in Parkwood Estates, a neighborhood in North Nashville. It’s one that comes from having roots in a community. There is a quiet strength here, a tenacity to stick with the neighborhood even as the city around it changes. And the city has changed a lot. While the population booms in certain areas, other neighborhoods like Parkwood Estates, often majority-minority and lower-income, have been overlooked for decades when it comes to investment. The lack of infrastructure funding in these areas means parks and green spaces are few and far between. As temperatures rise, a lack of tree canopy citywide can create urban heat islands — areas where buildings and other hard surfaces absorb and retain heat, increasing the overall temperature by as much as 10 degrees or more. “We saw that a lot of our low-income and minority communities are those that are bearing a disproportionate amount of urban heat. So those communities lack access to cooling strategies, lack access to tree canopy,” said Kendra Abkowitz, chief sustainability & resilience officer in the Nashville Mayor’s Office. One of the strongest strategies to combat this issue is tree planting, but up to 94% of land in Nashville is privately owned. How can individual homeowners be encouraged to plant on their properties? The answer comes from those who know their communities best.
Community Tree Planting
Growing from the ground up With funding from the Arbor Day Foundation, the Cumberland River Compact followed Nashville natives’ lead on creating healthier, more equitable communities. Local experts identified 12 neighborhoods where planting efforts would be prioritized, and from there, neighborhood planting captains got to work. Planting captains are members of the community who advocate for their neighbors. They reach out to help residents sign up for free trees to plant in their yard, either on their own or with help. George Acklin is one of those planting captains, proudly representing Parkwood Estates. “It’s important to have somebody in an in-depth position as a tree captain who people know and have confidence in. They are confident in me because I’ve been here a long time,” he said. The impact of this neighbor-to-neighbor connection is powerful. On a clear fall day, a planting party brought together nearly 100 volunteers to put about 300 trees in the ground. Tree by tree, residents saw what they could accomplish together. “Especially with an initiative like this, people are starting to realize how they can play a role in shaping their community far more than what they did before,” said Tranyce Parmer, another neighborhood planting captain. Creating more equitable neighborhoods is about more than planting the right trees in the right places. It’s about investing in a more equitable future — one community at a time.
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Arbor Day Foundation • 211 N. 12th St. • Lincoln, NE 68508
Technology meets trees for the greatest impact
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tree is a net positive, regardless of the neighborhood in which it’s planted. Every city tree helps clean the air and water. Each is home to any number of bugs, creatures, and critters — not to mention a source of physical and mental health benefits for people. When it’s placed in a location that needs those benefits most, a tree can be a workhorse. Placing a lot of trees in neighborhoods of greatest need is a cornerstone of our commitment to planting 500 million trees by 2027. That final tree count illustrates scale, but the real story is where those trees will be planted. To do that right requires insights, science, data, information, and technology to pull it all together. Ultimately, the Arbor Day Foundation turned to NatureQuant to make it happen. NatureQuant is a technology and research company with products that help highlight the positive impact nature, green spaces, and trees have on a neighborhood’s health and well-being. Not only can NatureQuant’s data highlight the impact trees have on a neighborhood, but it
can also help determine which neighborhoods need more trees in the first place. The organization has created an algorithm that pulls public data, satellite imagery, and image-recognition software to map where nature is plentiful and where it is needed across the country. It then provides a rating (called a NatureScore) on a 0–10 scale, with 10 having the lowest amount of nature. This approach can help the Foundation determine which neighborhoods around the country need trees the most — identifying communities that are both naturedeprived and facing other socioeconomic disadvantages such as low income, education, employment, or housing shortages. Combining an unmatched network of local tree planting partners across the country with NatureQuant’s robust research and technology has created a new standard for community tree planting — ensuring more trees are planted where they are needed most.