The importance of urban forests is becoming increasingly apparent. Lowered heat island effect, greater well-being, and lower utility costs just being a few advantages. The Spokane Conservation District (SCD) in Washington has been involved in forestry work for decades but began increasing its scope to include urban forest issues about 16 years ago. Its wide range of projects addresses various topics, including education, inequality, and fire mitigation.

Nestled on 50 acres of what used to be a quarry, SCD is creating a conservation park on the property. It hosts events on the sites and operates a holding nursery that supplies larger trees for its urban planning projects. “It’s really nice if you’re going to be spreading the gospel about trees to actually have trees,” joked Garth Davis, Forestry Program Manager for SCD. Davis has been the driving force behind SCD’s urban forestry efforts and has forged partnerships not just in Washington but in Idaho as well.

“A lot of what we do is education,” says Davis. From teaching people the importance of trees in urban spaces, tree safety, and the fact that a healthy forest doesn’t mean leaving every tree. They offer a free ‘walk in the woods’ to interested landowners, no matter the size of their property, where they asses the trees on the site and recommend certain trees for specific areas depending on the landowner’s goals.

SCD also partners with Spokane County and the City of Spokane to maintain the trees in the urban right-of-way. SCD began the Spokane County Canopy Project about five years ago with Spokane County. They hired Davey Tree experts to create two map layers, one captured the canopy coverage in the municipalities within the county, and the other mapped the county by median household income. In many cases, the low-income areas coincide with low canopy cover. SCD has been planting trees in the parks and public rights-of-way in these communities, all while footing the bill for the project through funds they gained from an increase in property assessment tax.

SCD is also a member of the Urban Wood Network, an organization that promotes urban wood use. SCD has several pieces of furniture built from urban wood in their office, and they have a stash of logs recently removed from a golf course that they intend to use as a fence. They also use wood chips from arborists to decrease the noxious weeds on their campus. The district also partners with the local utility company to provide shade trees to homeowners, which lowers utility costs, as well as promotes the use of utility-friendly trees that won’t grow to impede the powerlines or need to be trimmed or removed when they grow too large.

Davis says the biggest accomplishment of the urban forestry work has been increased recognition for the district. He also enjoys their positive impact in other counties and states, as SCD can offer its services to surrounding communities to help them with their urban forests. He iterated the importance of community buy-in, stating the need to make and maintain strong partnerships within the county and city you are working in and, in some cases, the neighborhoods themselves.

“Think outside the box,” says Davis, when asked about advice for other conservation districts interested in urban forestry. “More and more funding is becoming available for conservation districts, but it’s not a traditional conservation district service. Get in touch with the urban foresters and arborists in your county. See what’s available and asses what your community needs are”.

To learn for about the Spokane Conservation District and its urban forestry programs, visit: spokanecd.org. To learn more about the Urban Wood Network, visit: urbanwoodnetwork.org.