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A Season of Connecting

It's never really clear when spring ends and summer begins in Boston. Sometimes we hop right into summer in April; in other years spring seems to hang around until June.

This year has felt a bit slower - we've to take our time and appreciate the gradual emergence of leaves and flowers as we prepare for a summer season of growth, connections, and, of course, sunshine and heat. We look forward to seeing you out among the trees, enjoying the shade, comfort, and space for sharing stories that they provide.

Below we've highlighted some of our upcoming events and activities in June and also exciting updates about our work the past few months. Enjoy!

 
Community Tree Walks
Walking and sharing stories about Boston's urban forest

For the past several years, we have worked across three neighborhoods - Dorchester, Mattapan and East Boston - to learn about residents’ stories and experiences with trees and to co-create local tree walks. Through story-sharing, mapping, and informational science lessons from graduate students at Boston University, these walks aimed to increase awareness and improve dialogue surrounding inequitable tree canopy cover and its implications on the health of residents living in low-canopied communities. The end product resulted in two community walks in three different neighborhoods, for a total of six community walks.

We've mapped the walks for you to take and learn from. And, we are excited to share with you some stories on our new community tree walks page. 

A big thank you to our community partners who led the walks:

  • Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation, Dorchester
  • Edgewater Neighborhood Association, Mattapan
  • Neighborhood of Affordable Housing, East Boston

And the project partners who provided us all with insights and tools for learning and sharing:

  • BU URBAN: graduate students shared the challenges that urban trees face
  • EmVision captured in video some of local residents' tree stories
  • Everyday Boston engaged residents in interviewing techniques and story-sharing
Visit our Community Tree Walks Page
 
Welcoming our new Staff and Interns
Lily Bonilla-Reyes (she/her/they/them)

Lily was born and raised in East Boston and is a recent PowerCorpsBOS graduate. As a Boston native they have experienced first hand how lack of tree equity and green spaces in our city has affected our ability to connect with each other and our earth. Lily is passionate about creating, maintaining, and conserving urban green spaces, while making sure that they are accessible to all. Their goal is to become a certified arborist, caring for trees all throughout the city. Throughout her career Lily hopes to engage more of her community in learning more about the importance and value of environmental sustainability. Some of Lily’s favorite things to do are taking a nice long hike through the forest, crocheting, sewing and spending time with loved ones. Lily is our new Tree Care Associate. 

Derived Pierre-Louis (he/him)

Derived grew up in Hyde Park, Massachusetts. He finds it fascinating how interconnected the environmental-field is - working and having conversations with different people from different fields remains to him: an enticing and magnetizing experience; an experience driven by a common-goal - for a better environmentally-sustainable future; cleaner/renewable energy, better urbanize-planning; healthier bees, trees and vegetation, and cleaner water! With some of his documentary-work photographing improper tree-maintenance, the somewhat rural-looking landscapes within Boston, and bees and bees-keepers — he learned how small and tightly-knitted the green-community is, and how significant and consequential every action (good or bad) can become! He would love to see a greener-Boston in the upcoming years! And in his free-time, he loves playing the guitar! Derived is our MassCEC Summer Arts Intern.

Katherine Anne (she/her)

Katherine Anne recently graduated from Boston University with a degree in Earth and Environmental Science. She is now working towards a masters - also at Boston University - in Applied Data Analytics. Ever since her freshman general chemistry labs, she has been fascinated with how intricate and useful data management and analysis can be in the sciences. She hopes to be able to put this passion to use at Speak for the Trees, Boston. In her free time, she loves to read, bake, and watch hockey. Boston University is a huge hockey school which helped spur that love. Plus, her dad’s side of the family is from Michigan so she believes it would be against some state law for her to not love hockey. She is also a huge fan of the outdoors. She loves paddle boarding, hiking, and hammocking. She’s excited for the nice weather to finally be here so being outside is a bit more enjoyable. Katherine Anne is our MassCEC Summer Project Intern.


Upcoming June Events

Find all our events at our events calendar: treeboston.org/events

Tree Giveaway, Saturday, June 1

Join Speak for the Trees for our final Spring 2024 Tree Giveaway at the Presentation School Foundation Community Center in Brighton on Saturday, June 1 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  We are excited to be in partnership with Texas Roadhouse and the Hamilton Company Charitable Foundation. Allston/Brighton homeowners and residents are encouraged to sign-up. We will be distributing 5 different species of trees: serviceberries, Eastern redbuds, Northern red oaks, Sweetbay magnolias, and katsuras.

Please note: this event is for Boston residents only until 1:00 p.m.
Non-Boston residents can pick up a free tree starting at 1:00 p.m.

Sign-Up for our Brighton Tree Giveaway
Sunflower Seed Giveaway, Saturday, June 8

We're excited to partner again with Ekua Holmes of The Roxbury Sunflower Project! They will be hosting a Seed Giveaway on Saturday, June 8 at the Grove Hall Public Library from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Contact Ekua Holmes at [email protected] for any questions and more information.

Teen Tree Summit, Saturday, June 15

Our Teen Tree Summit is coming up very soon! The event will be hosted at the Weld Hill Research Building on Saturday June 15th from 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. We will be bringing together environmental justice organizations that provide educational and employment opportunities to Greater Boston youth to celebrate the work the youth do. If you are interested in attending or would like to host an information table for your organization, please RSVP on our website or reach out to our Education Coordinator, Joshua, at [email protected].

Join our 2nd Teen Tree Summit
 
Last Chance: Help us Name our New Electric Truck!

We've received some great suggestions already a name for for our new all electric truck, including Lightning Bug, The F-One-Fiftree, and Pedro Mar-tree-nez. But we're wanted to keep it open for one more round of suggestions before we move forward.

We’re looking for something fun, playful, and exciting! Do you have an idea?

If so, head over to https://treeboston.org/name-our-truck/ and provide us with a suggestion. We'll choose our favorite three and then hold a public vote. If your suggested name is chosen, we'll pick you up in our truck for a fun day of tree watering with our staff. Names referencing trees are encouraged!

Some things to know about our truck to get those creative juices flowing:

1) It is *all* electric… (which means less air pollution and less noise)

2) We'll be using it for watering trees we've planted around Boston…

3) The truck sometimes tows a trailer with it.

Have any ideas? Submit them here!
 
Branching Out:
Speak for the Trees Partners with Emerson College

Speak for the Trees joined forces with Emerson College’s Engagement Lab for the 2023-2024 academic year, participating in two courses: “Creative Expression for Climate Justice” and “Behavioral Economics.” These courses are part of Emerson’s “Transforming Narratives for Environmental Justice” initiative, which seeks to advance environmental and climate justice through collaborative storytelling, design, and research.

Julia Rudolph, our community engagement coordinator TerraCorps member, served as a Learning Partner, actively participating in weekly classes.  The fall semester’s “Creative Expression for Climate Justice” explored artistic approaches to achieving climate justice. The spring semester’s “Behavioral Economics” course delved into decision-making and why people often resist behavior changes. She's written up a blog post  about her experience, the outcome, and the partnership. We look forward to continued partnership again in 2024-25.

Read the About Our Partnership with Emerson
 
Check Out What Our Friends in JP Did!

Jamaica Plain residents saved the big Oak Tree at 72 Hyde Park! Read their full announcement letter here.

JP Residents Save Big Oak Tree
 
Donate Today
Thank you for helping us grow Boston's urban forest

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