Cambridge Canopy Coverage Increased But Residents Are Still Skeptical

Despite a five percent increase in canopy cover in Cambridge over the last five years, some Cambridge residents expressed frustration about ongoing city development and tree density disparities at the Cambridge Urban Forest Master Plan meeting on Thursday.

The Cambridge Urban Forest Master Plan task force was formed in 2019 to increase tree presence in the city, and “evaluate, maintain and expand the urban forest canopy while being more resilient to climate change,” according to the city’s website. The project leads presented a five year update to around 35 Cambridge residents in the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School Cafeteria.

Project manager and consultant Stephanie ​​Hsia said that the city’s implementation of a nursery has allowed the city to increase the number of trees planted a year from 400 in 2018 to 1200 per year in more recent years.

“The city has really invested in the urban forest, and the results show that, but there’s still work to be done,” Hsia said. “It's a real privilege to return back to this work and to see how much the city has done.”

The UFMP was initially established during a downward trend in canopy cover in the city due to development. In 2009, 30 percent of the city was covered by trees but that decreased to 26 percent in 2018. Now, the city is back to more than 30 percent canopy cover according to Andrew J. Putnam, the Cambridge superintendent of urban forestry and landscapes.

Putnam added that a majority of the loss of canopy coverage in the city is on residential and private property lots.

“It takes a collaborative effort with all residents and stakeholders to grow a vibrant and healthy forest,” Putnam said.

While four out of eight Cambridge neighbourhoods have met the canopy cover goal of 25 percent, residents voiced a variety of concerns about disparities between East Cambridge tree canopy and the rest of the city and the loss of tree coverage due to development.

Heather Maguire Hoffman, an East Cambridge resident, said despite the good-intentions of UFMP, she has lost trust in the city and is discouraged by the city’s emphasis on development over trees.

“There’s a general view that I see that trees should always be the thing that we lose because something else is more important,” she said. “I live in East Cambridge where we have been losing trees left and right.”

Sarah Bell, who lives in North Cambridge and attended many of the task force meetings five years ago when the original plans were developed, also shared concerns about the inequity between East Cambridge and the rest of the city.

“The canopy in East Cambridge is very weak and thin compared to the rest of the city,” Bell said.

According to Hsia, while neighborhoods like West Cambridge have 42 percent canopy coverage, East Cambridge falls behind at 15 percent. East Cambridge is the headquarters of the city’s biotech industry, home to companies like Google, Pfizer as well as MIT.

Putman acknowledged that there is “room for improvement” in the East Cambridge canopy, whose extensive development is less conducive to tree planting.

Despite the city having planted “thousands of street trees in East Cambridge specifically to try to offset that,” Putman said they were still “falling short” of the twenty-five percent coverage benchmark.

Hsia said in an interview that the city is “really looking to expand canopy in these under-canopy neighborhoods.”

Despite the hurdles, some residents had positive views of the initiative’s progress. Katherine Stevenson, a Harvard Law School graduate, said that she noticed the difference this initiative made in her family's neighborhood.

“We feel a difference. This is not shaded in the summer when I'm pushing a stroller in front of our kids. We need more trees. Obviously, climate change is gonna get worse,” she said. “I just feel like it’s cool, the city’s being proactive about it.”