2022 Report: TreesMedford

January 2023

Trees available for TreeMedford’s Adopt-a-Tree program

TreesMedford had a busy year in 2022. From writing grants to plant more trees, to delivering a draft tree ordinance to the City Council, to organizing citizen watering efforts, we have had a real impact on the city’s trees and the City’s ability to improve its tree canopy. We have logged nearly 300 hours towards these activities. Partially through our efforts , Medford was able to plant about 180 new trees in 2022. Our attention is increasingly focussed in places where the canopy is sparsest, which is frequently in environmental justice areas. While there are a few places in Medford that reach our goal of 40% canopy, there are many areas that are significantly below that density.

Grants for Tree Inventory

TreesMedford continues to submit grant applications to fund tree planting and the management of Medford’s tree canopy. We started with an inventory of parts of South Medford, which has been completed. In 2022 we were awarded $10K by the Nellie Lehmann Taft Foundation and $500 from Wegmans to continue the inventory of trees in Medford. We completed the inventory of the Oak Grove Cemetery with funds from the Community Preservation Act. In collaboration with the Cemetery Commission, we are using the inventory data to plan tree planting, supported by a $25K grant we got from the Medford Community Fund. 

We are also working on two additional grants. If we receive all of the $12.5K grant we requested from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation we will be able to complete the inventory of the City’s trees. We also applied for funding from Mystic River Watershed Association and recently heard that we were awarded $25K for South Medford, where we have inventory data. We are working with them to refine our strategy for targeting the worst heat islands in Medford. 

Covid Memorial Grove

The TreesMedford’s Covid Memorial Grove initiative has been embraced by the City of Medford. A Medford Transcript article on it appeared in January 2022 and the City has applied for a $25K grant to develop a design for a space in Riverside Park. We are delighted that our idea is starting to move forward.

Medford Tree Ordinance

After an industrious 2021 drafting a tree ordinance for the City, TreesMedford solicited and incorporated feedback on the draft, and sent a draft to City Council in February 2022. In June, City Council broke the draft ordinance into three separate ordinances: to establish a Tree Committee, to protect trees on Public Property, and to protect trees on Private Property. The Tree Committee would be a new initiative for Medford, and the ordinance to protect public and private trees would involve revisiting related code already on the books. 

Fundraising

We added an important new feature to our website (TreesMedford.org): a button allowing people to make online donations. As a newly minted nonprofit, we need donations to purchase items such as leaflet printing, to support tree watering (with watering bags and tree tags), and to buy seedlings to give away. Some grantors, like DCR, require matching funds or volunteer hours, and we are hoping to raise these funds through donations. 

Watering

The summer of 2022 was hot and dry, and many trees suffered. The City contractors guarantee the trees that it plants for one year, but if that tree dies, we lose a year of growth and all of the effort made by the Tree Warden to select and plant the tree. It is better to keep the trees alive and not lose the City’s investment. This is why the TreesMedford watering program is so critical to improving our tree canopy.

TreesMedford updated the tree adoption web page with the year’s newly planted tree locations. Thirty-one newly planted trees were adopted in 2022. Anyone interested in adopting is encouraged to visit https://www.treesmedford.org/adopts.

We also worked with citizens to ensure that the gator bags function as designed. Many bags get  damaged by mowers and winter weathering. We also requested more watering by the City, and access to city water for the watering done by our volunteers for unadopted trees.

Tabling 

Our outreach efforts focus on tabling at fairs and events. We were a presence at Arbor Day, Mystic River Festival, Circle the Square, Harvest Your Energy, and Tufts Community Day (where we nearly got blown off the Hill by gale force winds!) and altogether spent nearly 40 hours at the events and planning for them. These opportunities enable us to reach hundreds of people with a message about the value of trees in Medford. We also use these events to find good homes for tree seedlings that will shade our neighborhoods and reduce summer’s heat.

Tree Stumps 

The bad news is that there are more stumps in Medford than there were a year ago. The good news is that the City obtained funding for stump removal in certain parts of the city. These funds will support the removal of 160 stumps. Some stumps have been around for years. 

Partnerships

TreesMedford has developed partnerships to expand our ability to reach our audience, educate our youth, and communicate with similar groups in the region. TreesMedford was chosen by Wentworth University’s Women’s Leadership Initiative to participate in its community-based service-learning project. Three students researched the relationship between Medford’s tree canopy (or lack thereof) and the heat island effect. The students presented a final project with an actionable plan highlighting the specific sites Medford can plant trees that, over time, will help reduce surface temperatures. 

We are part of MassTreeOrgs, a new regional tree group formed to compare and discuss tree-canopy enhancement in our respective communities. We also participated in a Lexington Living Landscapes webinar on best practices for individuals working with certified arborists. Our work on the ordinance is based on what we learned from ordinances in other Massachusetts communities, and we value the sharing that MassTreeOrgs enables.

 Engagement with the City 

TreesMedford actively engages with the City’s government. We attended Tree Hearings and noted our objection to tree removals. We collaborate with Medford’s Energy & Environment Committee. We participated in City Council and Committee of the Whole meetings to advocate for the proposed tree ordinances. 

We interact with City officials on a range of issues, including the inventory data, data transparency, the Tree Adoption Program, and the COVID Memorial Grove. We are making inquiries about city support for GIS for the inventory data to ensure that the inventories that have been collected are accessible, used and kept up to date. 

To reach out to TreesMedford contact Amanda Bowen at awbowen@comcast.net.