Miami-Dade has fallen behind on its decade-long promise to cover more than 30% of the county with tree canopy, leading to growing inequality across the region as wealthier neighborhoods remain in the shade while wealthier communities poor people cook – leading to higher electricity bills and more. emergency room visits.
Those questions, described in a Miami Herald investigation published earlier this year, spurred commissioners to ask Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s office to come up with a plan to keep the county green.
On Friday, the municipality announced draft Urban Forestry Planwhich requires the development of community partnerships, a more rigorous maintenance schedule and the search for more subsidies.
“We needed to regroup and figure out how we were going to get to this goal,” said Jane Gilbert, the county’s first heating officer, who came up with the plan. “We want to ensure that residents, businesses and stakeholders benefit from what trees provide and work together to maintain them.”
To achieve its goal, the plan makes clear that the county needs “all hands on deck.” Only 12 percent of developable land belongs to the county, which county officials say limits control over where trees can go.
The county plans to continue working with school districts and religious groups that own large tracts of land, hire professional arborists to properly prune the county’s trees, and begin an ambassador program to educate the community about why trees are good for neighborhoods.
Trees can’t just be planted, they need to be grown
After “aggressive action by the county,” tree canopy coverage has increased from 12 percent to 20 percent since the county set a goal of 30 percent coverage by 2030 in 2006, Gilbert said, but since 2016 growth has stagnated.
While more trees will need to be planted to reach his goal, Gilbert said it’s critical to keep trees already in the ground because they will be the first to mature and provide the most shade.
The Herald’s investigation also drew attention to the lack of maintenance that has led to tree deaths in the county and that behind the scenes there is no uniform data that can be used to measure all planting efforts. More than 17 years and millions of dollars later, the investigation revealed the county is no closer to achieving its goal.
One big lesson the county has learned is that trees need the same maintenance as roads and buildings. Trees less than five years old are extremely vulnerable to the elements and destruction from street weeds. Even a storm could end the life of a small seedling.
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The municipality said it prioritizes neighborhoods with little tree cover and wants to plant trees where people wait in the sun, such as at bus stops.
At the moment, the council does not have the staff to maintain parks, streets and environmentally protected land, which are normally wild forests. The county wants to look at other areas to add to the list of officially protected lands, which would protect more land from development.
Recently, the Broward County Commission adopted a regulatory ordinance tree-trimming industry and requiring all companies or municipalities that cut trees to obtain a Broward County Tree Trimmer License to do the work. Pruning trees keeps them healthy, but if too much is cut, the tree will not provide shade and will be exposed to wood-eating insects.
Miami-Dade County said it is reviewing Broward’s tree-trimming law and wants to recruit professional arborists to set a standard for best tree-trimming and pruning practices, as well as act as ambassadors to attract homeowners to preserve and plant trees. of trees.
For some people, tree maintenance can be a hassle. If left untrimmed, trees can put pressure on a fence or cause concrete to warp. But with some maintenance, trees not only offer much-needed relief from the heat, they also clean stormwater runoff and absorb pollution.
Some invasive trees that are not strong enough to withstand Miami’s tropical climate will also have to be removed. An example of this is the ficus tree, the official tree of Bangkok, which caused power cuts earlier than expected in a 2016 hurricane. The county wants to offer woodworking classes and allow people to take wood and give it new life.
The county is also considering climate change when selecting which trees to plant because it is seeing a shift in species that are successful in South Florida’s tropical climate.
“We want to think ahead about which species we select to prioritize in the future,” Gilbert said.
SEE MORE INFORMATION: What to do if your Miami-Dade neighborhood needs more trees
There are a variety of grants, including a $10 million grant from the U.S. Forest Service to plant trees over the next five years, but in total, the county will need more funding to reach its goal of planting 300,000 trees, now also considering o maintenance.
The county plans to finalize the draft tree canopy plan by November, following public workshops to gather community input. The next one is virtual on Thursday, July 25th and if you are unable to attend, there is a in-person option at the Stephen P. Clark Government Center on August 1. They are also accepting online comments.
Ashley Miznazi is a climate change reporter for the Miami Herald, funded by the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners.
