Understanding how important tree planting and maintenance is to curbing the negative effects of the climate crisis, Trees for Community Recovery supports Vanguard Cities who recognize the urgency of this moment and champion the robust expansion of urban forestry in their communities. As a Vanguard City, Cleveland, OH is making great progress in encouraging tree growth and maintenance in communities that have largely been neglected. More in NPR:
On the corner of East 123rd Street and Imperial Avenue, in Cleveland, Shirley Bell-Wheeler watches over a community garden with freshly planted raspberries, purple asparagus, and a little apple tree.
"Trees are trees, but fruit trees are just better," she says with a hearty laugh. Bell-Wheeler is a full-time teacher aide, part-time gardener, and the guardian of all green things in this neighborhood. She wishes there were more of them.
"In other neighborhoods, say suburban neighborhoods, you would see a big beautiful tree on every tree lawn," she says, referring to the strip of land between the sidewalk and curb.
The lack of trees reflects some of her neighborhood's problems. Mount Pleasant was hard-hit as people and money left for the suburbs over the past 50 years. "We have a lot of abandoned houses," she says, "and when they went through and tore down all the abandoned houses, they also tore down the trees on the curb."...Read more.