From Redlining to Green Lining
Andrew Avitt
Pacific Southwest Region
April 24, 2024
Urban areas are known for their blend of cultures, food, entertainment and rich histories, but not necessarily their greenspaces. That’s changing as communities across the country rethink urban planning and what a greener, cooler cityscape might mean for residents.
“Urban forestry matters because that’s where people live. So, if we want to help people, we have to go where they are,” said Francisco Escobedo, a research social scientist with the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station.
Depending on where in the world or the United States, communities can plant trees and glean many benefits from urban forests, said Escobedo. These benefits include reducing summer peak temperatures, improving air quality, reducing stormwater run-off, increasing property values, providing wildlife habitat, and strengthening neighborhood social connections.
Although the Forest Service is mostly known for working in national forests, many trees you see around urban areas are directly or indirectly funded by the federal agency, said Escobedo. “A lot of the practices people follow — planting these trees, taking care of these trees, selecting these trees — comes out of our research,” he explained.
Recently, the Forest Service invested more than $1 billion in competitive grants to community-based organizations, Tribes, state and local agencies, public colleges and universities, and nonprofits nationwide. This funding focuses on providing equitable access to trees and nature and their benefits.
It’s an investment in people living in these areas too. “The value of that investment will grow as populations in these areas and the trees themselves grow,” said Escobedo.
The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs estimates that 83% of the U.S. population lives in urban areas. By 2050, estimates push that figure to 89%.
Los Angeles Takes the Lead
Los Angeles averages about 267 days of sun a year. Its rays beat down on rooftops, roads, parking lots, cars and the tops of heads. About a fifth of the city’s trees and the shade they provide grow where only 1% of its residents live.
This scarcity is not lost on Los Angeles and county city planners, who have recently been coming together to grow urban forests in the nation’s second-largest city.
Rebecca Ferdman is a project manager for Los Angeles County’s first community forest management plan. She said work in urban forestry and green spaces in LA is only expected to grow.
“Urban forestry is important because trees are some of our most valuable infrastructure for climate resilience,” Ferdman said. “Trees are going to be able to provide shade and cooling, and we know our environment is getting hotter and drier.”
Ferdman grew up in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles County. “It is actually the hottest place in the entire county with some of the most extreme temperatures.”
And trees, as a part of our public infrastructure, offer a nature-based solution.
“This funding from the Forest Service is a game changer for L.A. County,” said Ferdman. “Not only the commitment to funding and to really getting the work done, but also the commitment to a long-term approach. The Forest Service brings a lot of science-based knowledge, and we’re taking those best practices.”
It’s an effort based on best available science, Ferdman explained, and will work to address the factors that influence a community’s vulnerability to climate change, such as asthma and cardiovascular disease rates, and social and demographic factors, including income and education. The goal from Ferdman’s perspective? These investments and new trees make it into neighborhoods where they will have the most impact.
“When it comes to urban forests, one of the biggest inequities is tree canopy cover. Some communities have lots of mature, beautiful shading; other communities have a lot less.
“Legacies of racism and other types of discrimination, they are paved over,” she continued. “They don’t have the space for the types of big trees that are going to provide those benefits. To break the cycle, we need to get in there and break the concrete.”
TreePeople: From Redlining to Greenlining
One environmental nonprofit in Los Angeles, TreePeople, works with policy directors like Ferdman and is supported by a Forest Service grant to expand urban forestry in communities. They work to plant trees, host workshops, and raise awareness for the benefits of city forests.
The title of their grant also hints at another objective, one that the Forest Service shares — From Redlining to Greenlining: Planting Justice in SoCal.
“It’s about equity, tree equity,” said Marcos Trinidad, the senior director of forestry at TreePeople. “It’s about bringing trees to areas that historically received very little resources, a practice often referred to as redlining.”
Unfortunately, Los Angeles has this darker past, like many other cities. In Los Angeles, redlined communities are scattered across the metropolis and relatively easy to spot.
“Over years, the impacts of distributing or not distributing services to communities tends to build up,” Trinidad said. “And now we are able to walk neighborhoods and see the proof in the trees. Areas that have much larger trees — there were a lot more resources allocated to support green spaces in those communities.”
The injustices there before are now being exacerbated by the heat island effect.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, heat islands occur in highly developed areas with little or no tree canopy cover. Instead of sunlight hitting and being absorbed by a tree’s leaves, roofing or pavement radiates the heat back into the surrounding air, often resulting in higher temperatures of 1–7°F during the day and 2–5°F at night.
Of the roughly 4,000 square miles in Los Angeles County, there is an abundance of unshaded developed areas, many of which directly result from redlining.
“But it doesn’t mean that work cannot be done to right some of these past injustices,” said Trinidad. Organizations like TreePeople are taking historical data with the $8 million in grant funding from the Forest Service to focus work in historically redlined communities.
“We’re bringing trees into all of these communities,” said Trinidad. “Not only are we bringing this resource of trees, but we’re bringing training and jobs. Our staff members are learning basic tree biology. What is a tree? What are the functions of a tree? What is that relationship, between trees in an urban environment?
Sharing the Path of Urban Forestry
Andrew Castillo, a community organizer with TreePeople for the Southeast LA area, grew up in South Gate, California. He said educating residents and youth about urban forestry is essential to raising awareness and spurring the community to action.
“We help people understand why the trees are important, to understand the tree canopy cover in our city and understand how past inequities contributed — how you can see it when comparing tree canopy here to a place like Culver City and Beverly Hills,” said Castillo.
For five years, he has participated in community outreach and tree-planting events in cities like South Gate, Bell, Huntington Park and Lynwood. He said that involving schools in these activities is an emphasis and for good reason.
“We work with teachers who are just so passionate about bringing out their students and getting them involved, and it makes a difference,” said Castillo.
Castillo knows the difference this kind of outreach makes firsthand. He was first introduced to urban forestry through a similar opportunity in high school. A small community organization was giving away fruit trees. So he brought a few home, and that’s when he said the passion had first started.
“I knew that I had to take care of those trees, so I could get the benefits and one day get the fruit,” said Castillo, “Being exposed to that opportunity and volunteering early pushed my passion. Nine years later, all the trees are flourishing, producing a lot of fruit.”