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Fall Update from Speak for the Trees
 
When in Drought... Water Your Trees

As Boston's summer heat continues, there has been growing recognition of the importance of trees as critical infrastructure to help cool our city. This means that we must continue to plant trees and increase our urban tree canopy. But, with Massachusetts currently facing drought conditions, this is not enough! Without water, trees across Boston are struggling to survive during this hot and dry summer.

Speak for the Tree's Executive Director, David Meshoulam, spoke about watering and tree care in a recent Boston.com news article, explaining how "30 to 40 percent of the street trees planted in Boston don’t survive past their seventh year, with most of the mortality occurring in the first two years."

We all must lean in. By watering street trees regularly, community members could increase trees' chances of survival, thereby increasing the benefits of mature and healthy trees. In addition, with  60% of Boston's land under private ownership, there's an opportunity to grow the city's canopy through partnerships with private residents.

Want to help? The best way to contribute is to water your tree once or twice a week with around 15 gallons a week.

Read the Boston.com article:
Trees are key to address Boston’s heat islands

Mulching on Harvard's Global Day of Service

On Monday, August 29th, 7 volunteers from Harvard joined us for a Global Day of Service. Among them were 4 first year students, a Harvard alum and her eight year-old daughter, and the Harvard staff leader. We began with an introduction to the work of Speak for the Trees. From there, the group spent the day caring for 15 trees in the Savin Hill neighborhood of Dorchester, removing trash, weeds, and adding mulch. It was a great opportunity to learn and engage and are so appreciative of the hard work these volunteers did in the sun to help out the neighborhood trees.

Learn more about our volunteer opportunities
 
$1.5 Billion goes towards Urban Forestry in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022

On August 16, 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act was passed by Congress and signed into law. This act aims to tackle climate change, in part by supporting our urban forests. The USDA Forest Service's Urban & Community Forestry program is set to receive $1.5 billion to provide multi-year, programmatic, competitive grants for tree planting and related activities. (Yes, that's Billion with a B!) Projects that benefit underserved and low-canopy populations will be prioritized and funding will be available to state agencies, local government entities, tribal communities, and nonprofit organizations.

We are proud to have co-signed a letter of support along with dozens of other organizations through the Sustainable Urban Forests Coalition to advocate increased funding for this important work.

Read the the letter

Join our movement to expand and grow Boston's urban forest

We have trees looking for homes
  • Have a nearby park that could use some trees?
  • Is your street bare and hot in the summer?
  • Is your school or local business looking empty?

We're here to support community projects that will bring trees to you and your neighborhood. Please fill out our brief tree planting proposal form and we'll reach out.

Submit your tree planting proposal
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