GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — This past weekend, Friends of Grand Rapids Parks announced on Facebook that they've reached a tree-planting milestone that's increased downtown's urban tree canopy from 5% to 10% since 2017.
"Mayor Bliss and Downtown Grand Rapids Inc., wanted to increase the tree canopy downtown, and the best way to do that was to fill in all the vacancies. So they set a goal of planting, with Friends of Grand Rapids Parks, 1,000 trees downtown. And originally that goal was going to be completed by the end of 2025 and this last week, we completed all the vacancies that we knew about," said Stacy Bare who serves as the executive director of Friends of Grand Rapids Parks.
Bare credits community and volunteer support for the project being finished a year ahead of schedule, and he says this announcement "great news" for downtown. He says the new trees will help improve air quality, reduce flooding, and reduce temperatures in an area that's covered with a lot of concrete.
"In Grand Rapids, we know that there's an 18-degree temperature difference, for example, on the hottest day of the year between a shaded and an unshaded street," he said.
Bare says trees also help prevent drivers from speeding down city streets, while promoting community safety and mental health.
"There's increases in happiness, increases in willingness to talk to other people, increases in engaging with your community around you. You're more willing to walk along the street if you see trees. It's these things that we don't always think about, but the aggregate benefit is really incredible when you add it all up," he said.
"It's an easy thing to take for granted when we have them, but when they're not there, people are angrier, they're hotter, they're less trusting, and they're less willing to get out of their house. And if there's anything we need right now, it's more engagement. It's more connection with our neighbors."
Grand Rapids has what Bare calls an "ambitious" goal of a 40% tree canopy across the city. He says now that the 2024 tree planting season has come to a close, leaders from Friends of Grand Rapids Parks are looking forward to what's to come in 2025.
"We've been doing a lot of work in the 49503 and 49507 zip codes. Historically, those neighborhoods had been redlined or disinvested, so when things like the emerald ash borer had come through or Dutch elm disease, trees in those areas hadn't been replanted. So now, we're replanting in a lot of those areas. Think of the Cesar Chavez/Grandville Avenue corridor. All year we've been planting in and around MLK Park." Bare said.
"We have about 4,000 more trees to plant, at least, over the next four years, so about 1,000 trees a year. We plan to give away somewhere between 200 and 300 trees, so there's still a lot of tree action. There's still a lot of opportunity for people to get involved."
If you'd like to volunteer for Friends of Grand Rapids Parks, there are number of ways to do so. Visit their website for a complete list of opportunities.