Despite millions of dollars being awarded to Buffalo for reforestation efforts, as well as Erie County, there are significant worries about how those funds will be distributed.
The city will receive $8 million and Erie County $5.2 million, though it’s unknown when the federal government will send that money to grant winners, said Andy Rabb, Buffalo deputy commissioner for public works and parks.
Once the funds have been received, they have to be spent in areas that are federally designated as disadvantaged or underserved.
But there are many community discussions to be had before the money arrives, Rabb said.
“It's really important to stress that this is going to be a community led effort. The city will not just be indiscriminately planting trees in front of people's houses,” he said. “We are going to work with people at the neighborhood level and at the house-by-house level, in many cases, to make sure that we're planting trees where people are requesting them.”
For Henry-Louis Taylor, Jr., director of the University at Buffalo’s Center for Urban Studies, the biggest concern is effective execution.
“Buffalo, and many other places, have a huge gap between what is said and what it's actually done in the real world,” he said. “So, I like what they say, and I’ll watch what they do.”
That means making sure installations actually happen in the places of highest need, but also that there has to be proper maintenance, Taylor said.
“It is essential that they also invest significantly in maintaining these trees,” he said. “If you don't maintain the trees -- in terms of cutting them back, managing of the relationship between the roots and sidewalks -- these things will attack the built environment and create havoc.”
Choosing the wrong type of tree or not maintaining them can have drastic consequences, from obstructing street views to damaging water systems, said Niagara University biology professor Mark Gallo.
“In many cities, you'll see they'll put in silver maples. Now silver maples become a large tree as well, but they also seem to have a lot of surface roots, they break up the sidewalk, they seek water,” he said. So that means your water lines or sewage lines and other things that are apt to have problems if you plant Silver Maple. So, it has to be the right tree for the right location.”
The city and county say they aren’t just focusing on planting efforts.
Points of attention include making sure there are enough trained employees to maintain the tree population and building a nursery for future use, said Bonnie Lawrence, deputy commissioner for Erie County’s Department of Environmental Planning.
“Our grant is complementary to the city's grant, so they're going to help us with our plan that we're putting together,” she said. “They're interested in some of the trees from our nurseries for their parks, so it was a really complimentary grant application.”
The county is focused on providing resources to help improve the canopy in the communities of highest need, rather than the county directly planting trees itself, she said.
The Village of Lancaster also has awarded funding for tree planting efforts, totaling just over $250,000.
Concerns have been raised in the past about the lack of canopy coverage in areas like Buffalo’s East Side, which can lead to increased temperatures, called “heat islands,” or issues with snow drifts and high winds during the winter.
“A place with no trees and vacant lots combined, and all of a sudden -- out of nowhere -- you're confronted with a mound of snow, or an excessive buildup of ice,” Taylor said. “So, the coverage impacts in a variety of different ways, in terms of providing the community with protection from all kinds of weather events.”
Being responsible with reforestation isn’t just about the location or condition of trees.
It’s also important to diversify which varieties are chosen, and to be aware of possible disadvantages that can come with those choices, said Gallo, who is a member of the New York Forest Owners Association.
“If it's going to be something that's going to top out at 12 or 15 feet, we have some wonderful native trees, and that's one of the things I'll try to stress,” he said. “Native is great for a couple of reasons. One is it's natural, I mean, it belongs here. And ‘belonging’ is an interesting word to use, but it does … as opposed to something that may be brought in from other places.”
Buffalo varies its population by picking from a list of about 50 different types, Rabb said.
People who live in the appropriate areas, such as the far-west part of the city or the East Side, and would like a tree planted nearby, can contact the city’s call and resolution center, he said.
