By creating pathways for more homes and more trees in the landscape, Home in Tacoma Phase Two could go down as one of the most important environmental and climate actions of our generation. But developers are fighting to remove private property tree protections. It's time to take action so Tacoma implements unified codes that will enable the growth critical infrastructure of trees and “middle housing” at the same time.

Our partners in the WSU Ravenholt Urban Forest Health Lab completed an analysis to identify priority Tacoma public schools (K-12) for tree planting. In this analysis, WSU ranked Tacoma’s public schools based on 5 metrics, then averaged the ranks of each school to identify ten schools as priorities for urban greening efforts. Learn which schools rank highest.

Executive Director, Lowell Wyse, explains why the newly approved street tree ordinance will help make Tacoma more resilient in the face of climate change by better regulating tree pruning and removal, allowing fruit trees in the right-of-way, and celebrating heritage trees.

What does Tacoma need to do in order to confront the health threats posed by the urban heat island effect and the overall challenges of climate change? In this post, Executive Director of the Tacoma Tree Foundation, Lowell Wyse, explains the health and environmental effects of urban heat island, how the Foundation and city and county partners are working to confront these challenges, and the urgent steps that leaders and governments must take today to ensure trees are an essential component of urban infrastructure tomorrow.

New buildings are required to plant trees but what happens after they’re planted?

New data from our Branch Out event this February offers a promising look at our impact.