Happy Nice Mall

“You can’t go cut the concrete and put a tree on the ground,” says Rose Tileston, 32, who works on urban tree planting projects around the country as part of her job at the nonprofit American Forests. Washington, DC To plant a tree in a public place, you must first get permission from the city. Many will be dying to give it. Trees make cities more resilient to climate change by trapping carbon, absorbing stormwater runoff, lowering temperatures, cleaning the air and reducing costs and emissions from air conditioning.

Plant the right tree in the right place. “Are there power lines up there?” Tileston says. “Are there water pipes down there?” Even if this growth will take decades, you should plan the tree at full maturity. Many municipalities provide lists of approved tree varieties to choose from. If possible, choose a region-specific species. For a better chance of survival, plant a larger tree three inches in diameter when measured four and a half feet above the ground.

A tree of this size is heavy; It helps three people to work together while planting. Dig a hole one to two feet wider than the diameter of the tree’s root ball. Make it as deep as the root ball, but not deeper; You don’t want to cover the part of the trunk where the roots are starting to flare up. Gently roll the root ball into the hole and cut off any wire or burlap. Back off and make sure the tree is upright. Refill the dirt by tampering as you go. Drive two wooden stakes into the ground and tie the tree in place. water thoroughly; young trees need three years of regular watering.

The urban population in the United States is expected to increase by 91 million people over the next 40 years. To keep up with this growth and the changing climate, we need to plant about 31 million trees a year in urban areas, the researchers say. In most American cities, wealthier neighborhoods have more trees than low-income areas. “Some neighborhoods have no trees at all,” says Tileston, the owner of her organization that works with community groups to address tree equality. If you’re planting outside of your neighborhood, make sure you get support first. “Don’t go to a community and say, ‘You need this,'” says Tileston. “Listen to the community saying ‘We want this’.”