With a record-breaking distribution of urban forestry grants, communities throughout the state are finding novel ways to achieve climate resilience and equity goals while serving the unique needs of residents.
By Jennifer Krazit
In February, the Washington State Department of Resources (DNR) announced that it would fund tree-planting initiatives in 45 cities across the state—the largest Urban and Community Forestry Grant Program disbursement in the agency’s history. The $8 million earmark (a combination of state and federal funds) was 14 times higher than 2023’s total, but it was right on par with soaring goals the state has set for climate and environmental justice expenditures.
“Access to clean air, shade, and green spaces should be a basic human right, but the fact is that throughout our state, lower-income communities and communities of color more often live in neighborhoods with more concrete and asphalt, and too few trees,” Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz said in the official news release.
That’s not only encouraging news to Washington cities seeking to expand and protect their tree canopies, it’s also prioritizing “tree equity” (a tool measuring if and how equitably the benefits of urban forestry projects are reaching those who most need them), with a goal of making sure there are enough trees in every neighborhood for residents to experience the health, economic, and climate benefits that trees provide.
As cities begin to use these grants to fund urban forestry initiatives—many with a strong focus on community involvement and cross-organizational collaboration—each contributes to broader state and federal climate goals while creating positive health and social benefits for residents locally.
Seeding a mini-forest revolution
In Bellingham, a groundbreaking pilot project known as a Miyawaki mini-forest has taken root at Sehome Hill Arboretum on the north end of Western Washington University’s campus, where a stand of Douglas fir and big-leaf maples reach for the sky as sword ferns and dwarf Oregon grape thrive in the generous shade the canopy provides.
A gate leading into Whatcom County’s Miyawaki mini-forest, a reforestation technique that uses ultra-rich soil and densely packed seedlings of native plants to establish quickly maturing mini-forests in small, urban spaces. (Photo by Chona Kasinger)
On Earth Day last year, nonprofit Whatcom Million Trees collaborated with the City of Bellingham and WWU’s Learning Environment Action Discovery program and recruited volunteers to clear an overgrown plot of invasives as a first phase test of the Miyawaki method, a reforestation technique that uses ultra-rich soil and densely packed seedlings of native plants to establish quickly maturing mini forests in small, urban spaces. With $54,884 in state DNR funds, in 2025 the nonprofit will plant a second mini forest, this time in Bellingham’s Barkley Village neighborhood, to demonstrate how using the Miyawaki method promises better long-term climate resilience in medium- to high-density urban mixed-use settings than simply dropping in street trees along a commercial corridor.
The Miyawaki method was developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki in the 1970s but has seen a surge in popularity in the United States in the last few years, with new forests popping up everywhere from a landfill in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to a corrections facility on the Yakama reservation. Although it requires intensive upfront work to identify the most advantageous mix of plants and to prepare soil that emulates the naturally rich soil found in a mature forest, the effort pays dividends quickly since trees in Miyawaki forests grow at rates much faster than conventional urban plantings, and after three years become self-sufficient, requiring no watering or weeding.
“Miyawaki mini forests are ideal to fit into small nooks and crannies,” says Michael Feerer, executive director of the Whatcom Million Trees Project. “They can be as small as eight parking spaces, so there are numerous opportunities to establish more here to increase our tree canopy as Bellingham densifies.”
Whatcom Million Trees Project Executive Director Michael Feerer (Photo by Chona Kasinger)
Nicole Oliver, director of the Bellingham Parks and Recreation Department, notes that mini forests are especially good for reclaiming blighted lots or introducing tree canopy to areas that are difficult to build on, adding that the new mini forest for Barkley Village is exactly the kind of forward-thinking approach that will help the city and state work toward achieving climate resilience and tree equity goals.
“Focusing on neighborhoods where there is inequity in tree canopy is really important,” says Oliver, noting that Barkley Village, a medium-density urban village comprising a mix of industrial, commercial, and residential development, sits adjacent to the Roosevelt neighborhood, a largely low-income district where the tree canopy is relatively sparse. “We know that areas that are densely populated, that don’t have a history of street tree requirements, or that have more multifamily residences are at more risk for a heat island effect.”
Focusing on neighborhoods where there is inequity in tree canopy is really important.
Available city-owned property for tree plantings like these is virtually nonexistent, says Oliver, who adds that the city needs to plant trees as mitigation for its own development, recognizing the inherent tension between its policies as it works to realize dual goals of building additional housing and expanding and maintaining a healthy tree canopy to boost climate resilience. Collaborative projects like the Barkley mini forest, she says, help the city improve livability in underserved neighborhoods and reach climate goals without straining public resources.
Douglas fir saplings take root beneath the tree canopy in Whatcom County’s mini-forest; a canopy of mature fir and bigleaf maple trees provides shade for sword ferns and Oregon grape evergreen shrubs to thrive on the forest floor. (Photo by Chona Kasinger)
For its part, the City of Bellingham is leaning into that same collaborative ethos for its own initiatives. As a result of a recently passed greenways levy (the fifth time voters have approved such a tax), the city is expanding its community stewardship program to recruit a volunteer workforce of more than a thousand residents who will be devoted to urban forestry initiatives, including riparian restoration, tree planting, wetland oversight, and expansion of a community garden.
Areas that are densely populated, that don’t have a history of street tree requirements, or that have more multifamily residences are at more risk for a heat island effect.
A canopy to shelter the state
Bellingham is but one of dozens of cities across the state that are putting DNR urban forestry grants to work.
In Ritzville, an agricultural community of 1,700 in the heart of wheat country in Eastern Washington, a $346,000 DNR grant will enable the city to conduct a tree inventory for the first time in a decade and hire a consultant to develop a long-term landscape and tree planting plan to guide the work of an all-volunteer tree board.
At the southern border, the city of Stevenson is using a $48,600 state-funded grant to study how it can underground existing overhead utilities to reduce fire risk, thereby protecting tree canopy, neighboring forests, city infrastructure, and human life.
Farther east, the Washington Native Plant Society was awarded $115,496 in federal funds to provide native plant stewardship training programs for residents of the City of Federal Way and the City of Spokane, who agree to pay back the hours of training they receive by volunteering to work on forest restoration projects in city parks and green spaces in their local communities. And the City of Palouse will use a $113,000 DNR grant to remove deadfall from a three-acre community forest tract impacted by western pine beetle infestation and reforest the area with native trees, grasses, and shrubs.
Thriving community roots
Two-and-a-half hours south of Bellingham in the heart of Port Townsend’s Sather Park, laminated root rot—a disease caused by a fungus that’s particularly good at infecting conifers—has decimated once-thriving stands of Douglas firs planted a century ago in this 6.7-acre greenspace set in a residential neighborhood.
Port Townsend’s Sather Park, a 6.7-acre greenspace set in a residential neighborhood. Once-thriving stands of Douglas firs planted a century ago have been decimated by a blight that has killed nearly half of all trees in the park. (Photo by Chona Kasinger)
“Laminated root rot spreads through the roots underground,” explains Port Townsend Parks and Recreation Manager Michael Todd. “The disease started right in the middle of the park and has kind of worked its way out.”
To date, Todd notes, the blight has killed nearly half of all trees in the park, taking out a significant amount of the area’s tree canopy. But thanks to DNR urban forestry grants, there’s reason to hope Sather Park will recover.
Port Townsend received $349,000 in state funding for urban forest restoration projects in two of the city’s oldest public parks, Sather and Bishop Park, a 4.2-acre greenspace that includes a children’s play area but lacks shade trees due to a proliferation of invasive plants that inhibit the growth of saplings. The grants will enable Port Townsend to remove invasive plants in Bishop Park, clear dead and diseased conifers in Sather Park, and plant trees that are more climate- and disease-resistant while also engaging the community. As part of that effort, Port Townsend High School students studying environmental sciences will learn how to count, measure, and enter trees into the city’s urban canopy database. The nonprofit Habitat for Humanity of East Jefferson County will study if it can incorporate salvaged wood to help meet the city’s affordable housing goals while also mitigating canopy loss. A vast network of volunteers, including the No Ivy League, a grassroots organization that works to eradicate its namesake invasive vine, will also pitch in.
A deer, a trail, and a diseased tree in Sather Park; the City of Port Townsend will use state funding for urban forest restoration projects to clear dead and diseased conifers from the park and to plant trees that are more climate- and disease-resistant while also engaging the community. (Photo by Chona Kasinger)
Rather than approaching these as one-off projects, the city hopes its urban forestry initiative will serve as a model for effective tree canopy restoration and community involvement that can guide similar work in other cities in the future. In addition to its DNR-funded urban canopy restoration efforts, Port Townsend also received a $270,500 federal grant for tree planting and updating its conservation ordinance to include the goal of achieving tree equity, ensuring that the benefits of urban forestry projects—better stormwater drainage, cooler temperatures during heat waves, improved air quality, and even lower stress levels—are reaching all of the city’s residents.
“We have a number of areas that are identified as disadvantaged census tracts, and those areas specifically have a lower percentage of tree canopy compared to the city as a whole,” says Mayor David Faber. “So making sure we have appropriate planning around that and can identify where we need to target additional tree plantings and preservation of tree canopy is a major part of what we’re hoping to achieve with the funds.”
We have a number of areas that are identified as disadvantaged census tracts, and those areas specifically have a lower percentage of tree canopy compared to the city as a whole.
One area of focus is the Castle Hill neighborhood, an area with fewer trees, more asphalt—and comparatively more poverty as well, says Faber. Because the area has a higher concentration of concrete and fewer yards, parks, and street plantings to soak up rainwater, it’s also prone to flooding. So, in addition to planting trees, the city is investigating how installing rain gardens—landscaping features with native flowers, grasses, and shrubs that allow excess water to soak into the earth instead of flowing into culverts and sewers—might mitigate some of the neighborhood’s stormwater management problems.
“[Governor Jay] Inslee has laid out a pretty ambitious environmental goal,” says Faber. “These urban forestry grants will help us work toward increasing tree canopy to sequester greenhouse gasses and updating our tree preservation ordinance so that we can plan for more equitable distribution of arboreal canopy within the city of Port Townsend.”
And that helps the state achieve its urban forestry goals.
As Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz concludes: “We need to bring the same urgency we brought to our wildfire crisis to our efforts to ensure everyone lives in neighborhoods with adequate tree canopy. Trees and tree equity are essential for our quality of life. As temperatures rise and economic disparities widen, trees are no longer a nice-to-have, they are a must-have.”
We need to bring the same urgency we brought to our wildfire crisis to our efforts to ensure everyone lives in neighborhoods with adequate tree canopy.