The City of Ann Arbor has reached a major milestone in its A2ZERO carbon neutrality plan, completing the goal of planting 10,000 trees on private property six years ahead of schedule.
The achievement is one of over 40 actions outlined in the A2ZERO plan, which aims to make the city carbon neutral by 2030. A key element of the plan includes “preserving and enhancing the local tree canopy” by planting 10,000 trees on private property and another 10,000 on public land. With the private property goal achieved, focus is now shifting to planting the next 10,000 trees in public spaces across the city.
“Trees store carbon and help to reduce air pollution, stormwater runoff, urban heat and energy usage — making a healthy tree canopy an important part of keeping our community green, healthy and resilient to a changing climate,” Sean Reynolds, Ann Arbor Office of Sustainability and Innovations (OSI) senior analyst and creator of the 10,000 Trees Initiative, said in a press release. “That doesn’t stop with the trees lining our streets and shading our parks — it also means growing and maintaining the trees in our own backyards.”
The 10,000 Trees Initiative was designed to help private property owners plant and care for trees. A popular part of the initiative has been the FreeTree Giveaway program, which has allowed Washtenaw County residents to pick up free seedlings to plant at home.
The initiative, along with the city’s forestry and natural area preservation divisions, recently received a $1 million grant from American Forests through the USDA Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Program, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act. The funding will go toward planting and maintaining trees in historically underserved neighborhoods at no cost to residents.
To ensure the long-term health of the planted trees, OSI is also launching the 10,000 Trees Survival Study to monitor the trees and provide care recommendations to help residents nurture them.
“Achieving this goal is incredibly meaningful to our carbon neutrality work, and to ourselves as residents of Tree Town, USA,” OSI Director Dr. Missy Stults said. “When the pandemic hit, we had to pivot. We couldn’t do a lot of the work that we’d been planning to. But that gave us the opportunity to lift up this program, and now here we are, reaching our goal early!”
She added, “I’m so grateful that Ann Arborites have embraced this initiative so wholeheartedly, and I encourage anyone who hasn’t yet to learn more, because it will take all of us to reach our A2ZERO goal of community-wide carbon neutrality by 2030.”
For information on Ann Arbor’s A2ZERO carbon neutrality plan, visit www.a2zero.org.
