Improving Aberdeen’s tree equity score one tree at a time

In Aberdeen’s Pioneer Park, a section of the pedestrian trail has a new addition: 20 freshly mulched saplings. As these saplings mature, they will provide welcome shade during the summer for those recreating on the trail or watching a game.

Last week, about 30 people turned out for a tree planting event developed in partnership with the city of Aberdeen, American Forests, Pacific Education Institute and Aberdeen High School, with Weyerhaeuser as a sponsor. Stacie Barnum, the parks and recreation director for the city of Aberdeen, wrote the $30,000 American Forests grant that helped fund the event, and the city was one of only four cities to receive the grant.

Barnum welcomed the attendees and joked that, “We did order this beautiful weather. We’re glad to have a nice day and have you all out here.”

In his opening remarks, Mayor Douglas Orr said, “I appreciate you taking your day off to come out and help us plant more trees. … It’s just one step closer to Aberdeen being a tree city.”

Representatives from the other partners — Tanner Haid, the senior director, Urban Forestry Field Delivery with American Forests; Stephen Davis, a forester/silviculturist with Weyerhaeuser; and Molly Griffiths, associate director of Puget Sound Region with Pacific Education Institute (PEI) — also provided opening remarks and thanked attendees for volunteering.

“Over the last 10 years or so, in particular, we’ve been building a movement to tree equity,” said Haid. “For a future where all of us, regardless of the depth of our pocketbooks or the color of our skin have equal access to the benefits of trees. And together, on days like this, we have the power to do something really strong and impactful to achieve something that is within our grasp: To plant and protect, and, preserve and maintain, the 500 million trees needed to achieve tree equity across the country.”

Before attendees dispersed into groups to plant the trees, Jose Hernandez, with Castaneda Landscaping Company, demonstrated the proper way to plant a tree. He, along with coworker Caesear Valdivia, assisted with the tree planting and staked the trees once planted. Castaneda Landscaping Company has done most of the tree planting in the city’s parks and downtown for nearly 20 years.

The two tree species being planted were Katsura, which can reach 60 feet when mature, and Greenspire Linden, which reaches 40 feet. These tree species were selected because of “their type of tree canopy, tolerance to drought, and they thrive in more difficult environments,” Barnum said.

Other reasons for selecting these species are they don’t have an invasive root system that could lift up the pathway, and the linden tree is a food source for pollinators.

Because the first five years after planting are when trees need the most attention, Barnum already has the maintenance plan developed; the parks team will water the trees weekly throughout the summer and into the early fall, and as the trees grow, lower branches may be pruned as needed.

Around one tree being planted, Aberdeen High School teacher Faith Taylor-Eldred and her five students discussed the soil types they were observing: clay in one hole and rounded rocks in another, which indicated a riverbed at some point, she said.

This tree planting event is one of many field-related activities that Taylor-Eldred has arranged for her students throughout the year; other activities include stream surveys, timber cruising and observing logging operations.

“Anything field related, I try to get the students out,” she said.

Further up the path, Weyerhaeuser employees finished mulching trees they had planted. Davis, who works on the Aberdeen Tree Farm, shared that “we’re always looking for any kind of public outreach to give back to the community.” Their volunteering is part of the company’s “Learn Local, Earn Local” program, which was rolled out in 2023 and supports the goals of the 3 by 30 Sustainability Ambition.

As outlined by the company, “By 2030, we envision real, measurable improvements in how we, and those we partner with, ensure rural communities are great places to live, work and do business. We view the health and vibrancy of our communities as integral to our long-term success as a company, and we expect to drive meaningful growth in how we engage with, invest in and otherwise support our operating areas.”

Using equity to inform planting

As Haid mentioned in his opening remarks, American Forests is “building a movement to tree equity,” and a tool crucial to this work is its Tree Equity Score mapping tool.

“It’s a map of over 2,600 urban areas across the country where we pull in both tree canopy data, as well as information on priority indicators for the community’s health and well-being to be able to come up with this score,” he said.

With this tool, users can see their neighborhood’s tree equity score. These scores range from 0 to 100. To determine where to invest resources, American Forests provides a broad breakdown: Highest (0-69), High (70-79), Moderate (80-89), Low (90-99) and None (100).

Barnum, in consultation with Haid, identified which Aberdeen parks had low tree equity scores. The two census blocks that include Pioneer Park had a tree equity score of 63 and 65, with a canopy cover of 17 and 14%, respectively. This lack of canopy cover results in a heat disparity over 3oF, which is noticeable.

“We take this trail a lot during the summer, and we run our dog on here and the pavement is hot,” Orr said. “Trees [are] making it better for everybody [by] cooling the temperatures.”

On May 27, Taylor-Eldred’s students had the opportunity to use the Tree Equity Score mapping tool and determine where they would plant trees. Griffiths and Lauren Troyer, the south sound FieldSTEM coordinator with PEI, guided the students through an exercise to compare the tree equity scores of different census blocks in Aberdeen, first finding their school and exploring the different parts of its tree equity score, such as heat disparity, and looking at the tree equity score of their home address and neighborhood compared to the school and Pioneer Park.

Then each student was given “free rein,” said Griffiths. “It was a ‘choose your own adventure’ as far as using the tool to analyze the specific 18 census blocks for Aberdeen … and where would you, if you got to choose to plant trees in a specific spot, where would you choose to plant them?”

Griffiths observed that the students didn’t select the same plating sites, with some students selecting a tree equity score of 35 and another selecting a site with a score of 51. The final piece of the exercise was students, individually or in groups, filling out a template letter created by PEI that described why they selected a site as needing trees planted and addressing the letter to the city council or Barnum.

“The kids were really excited about getting to have their own agency to find a spot that they thought was a good reason [for planting],” Griffiths said, adding, “A lot of them were into [the exercise], and they talked about ecosystem benefits last week on what trees do for the community and that was a really nice connection.”

This excitement is what Orr sees as needed to return trees into the city and, hopefully, become a Tree City USA city.

“We have to work on our pride in our community and starting young with kids, getting them planting trees,” he said. “Then they have some ownership in their city [and] they’re more apt to care about it.”

Jerry Knaak / The Daily World From left, Aberdeen city councilors Liz Ellis and Joshua Francy along with Tanner Haid, the senior director, Urban Forestry Field Delivery with American Forests, dig a hole and prepare to plant a tree at Pioneer Park.