August 5, 2024 |City of Lynn, City Services, From the Mayor, Gateway Cities, News

Planting roots for a healthy community

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Lynn is benefiting from the Healey-Driscoll administration awarding $1 million to support tree planting in Gateway Cities across the state.

Lynn was awarded $123,981 as part of the Greening the Gateway Cities Implementation Grant Program. It was one of six municipalities, along with two non-profit organizations and a state university, to receive funding.

The Greening the Gateway Cities Program is designed to enhance public health and reduce household heating and cooling energy use by increasing tree canopy cover in urban residential areas. The program is a partnership between the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA), the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) Urban & Community Forestry Program, the Department of Energy Resources, the US Forest Service, and the Department of Housing and Community Development, along with Gateway Cities and local grassroots organizations. Trees are planted by municipal tree crews, urban foresters, and local arborists.

“Expanding our forest canopy is one piece of the larger puzzle to combatting climate change in Massachusetts,” said EEA Secretary Rebecca Tepper. “With continuous heat waves leading to higher energy bills and greater greenhouse gas emissions, our Greening the Gateway Cities Program (GGCP) leverages our state resources and engages residents to help plant trees and enhance public health. Reducing the urban heat island effect is a top priority, and our non-profit partnerships through the GGCP will help cool our neighborhoods, towns, and cities.”

Since launching the GGCP in Lynn, there have already been more than 2,000 trees planted in the city. The latest round of grant funding will help Lynn prepare 80 new tree pits and plant 110 new public trees, starting in the fall. The money will also support tree watering and maintenance.

“I’m really excited, not only about this grant, but in that way that the City of Lynn is really investing in urban trees in a way not seen before.”

Erica Holm, Lynn’s first Urban Forestry Fellow

Holm is responsible for overseeing the management, care and preservation of trees in the city. She was hired with grant money obtained through the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry Program, in partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation.

“We appreciate receiving this state funding, which will allow us to continue our efforts to improve the tree canopy in the city,” Mayor Jared C. Nicholson said. “We understand that trees play an important role in our community and we are taking steps to see that our residents benefit from their presence.”

Holm said the new planting will be focused on areas that don’t have trees, but could. The GGCP targets the parts of the city with lower tree canopy, higher heat, larger population density, and more places to add new trees.

“We need to think about what trees we’re planting where, and about size and maturity and sturdiness, following an arborist concept called ‘Right Tree, Right Place,’” said Holm.

Trees cool neighborhoods and reduce the “urban heat island” effect, where areas deficient in greenery and abundant in impervious surfaces, such as buildings and roads, create significantly hotter living conditions and adverse public health outcomes. GGCP goals are to plant five trees per acre, significantly lowering surface temperatures.

The above press release was submitted to us by Mayor Nicholson’s office.