A human viewpoint of nature is often informed by the brutal depictions of African megafauna in predator-prey relationships (cheetahs and gazelles, etc). 

It may seem that these ecosystems are governed by Survival of the Fittest but in reality, nature is mutualistic and evolution operates in a way to effectuate through natural selection ever increasing complexity and interconnectedness through the creation of more and more specialized niches while fundamentally supporting and preserving the whole (an antithesis to human civilization). 

The fascinations and beauty found in nature are sanctitude and awe inspiring. Trees and photosynthesis are the keystone gossamer on which the operation and success of nature depend. 

It is astonishing how three species of tree native only to the United States of America that, out of all tree species in the world, are the longest lived, largest in volume, and tallest in height: the Bristlecone pine, Giant Sequoia, and Coastal Redwood respectively. There are between 70-100k tree species on planet Earth.

Trees on the URI planting list are as incredible and important and tell the story of broadleaves, shade, diversity, and provision for wildlife. 

Quick reasons why we need more trees and tree adopters:

1. Trees are beautiful and imbue a “sense of place” and uniqueness to our physical reality. 

1. Deforestation is rampant in many places around the world. 

2. Nature is fragmenting and our human connection to nature becoming listless. 

3. Our survival as a species is inexorably tied to the health of our biosphere. 

2. The atmospheric concentration of CO2 has reached 425 ppm in a very short time from 400 ppm (nine years ago when I was in middle school). 1.25% change already in 2024, 400x the emissions rate as during the last mass extinciton 

3. Daily ocean surface temperature increasing each year; 2024 already setting new record at 21.1 degrees Celsius. 

1. The AMOC (Atlantic meridional overturning circulation) is the weakest it has been in 1,000 years and threatens shutdown; the consequences of which would be immediate and cause incongruous shifts in climate where many people live. 

Why plant street trees in New Haven?

URI (Urban Resource Initiative), the non-profit contracted for the public planting program is consummate, congenial, and visionary. The trees are free, eligible for any New Haven resident, large in stature and of the highest quality from a compendium of choices, and process to request is simple. Trees cost between $600-$800 and are sourced, purchased, shipped, and planted with money from either grants or city taxes depending on the neighborhood. 

East Rock/Edgerton park is an Important Bird Area and fly-over zone for millions of migratory birds each year (thousands of species). Although New Haven and Connecticut has many trees, it makes the most sense to plant trees here to create a carbon sink as our environment has suitable temperature and rainfall. Most importantly, trees provide a panoply of benefits locally. 

Stewardship of our public and private land is forbearant and planting trees is a reaffirmation of the core value system upon which our nation was built. Urban street trees are a portion of the climate change solution space and the positive benefits locally are enumerative. I am sanguine about water scarcity and heatwaves because science has shown how urban climate stress is extenuated by large trees and how tree planting can increase river flow and eschew evaporation. It is not quixotic to believe that individual action and tree planting of any size does not make a difference for a habitable future.

Please request a free tree! Thank you for reading! 

 Thank you, I’d like to say a huge thank you to URI and the city for this opportunity to talk about our incredible parks and how to make them more accessible, welcoming, and meet the needs of the people who use them. 

Just wanted to briefly bring up a concept about how over time, it seems like climate justice issues are more apparent now in New Haven and now are easily identifiable situations instead of abstract issues far away. Thank you to URI for the phenomenal job in creating more urban canopy in areas with less tree coverage. 

For the two climate justice issues, one being the preposed expansion of Tweed airport and the second being the expansion of the Yale golf and nature preserve to its historic size, the removal of 1500 mature trees and destruction of wetland habitat seems appropriate to bring up in this committee. 

There must be a way to evaluate each tree tagged to be removed and collaborate to save a portion of that canopy aligned in a way reasonable with the restoration efforts. There can be no gainsaying of the fact that this deforestation only benefits Yale golf players with no consideration to climate change or wildlife conservation. 

This destruction of a public park is almost akin to the fight for Kenison square park in it’s sheer abdication of public interest. It’s greenwashing not to voice a missive on this issue and I would begin to loose faith in the system if no retrospective effort is taken to approach Yale about the preservation of some Golf course trees, nevermind the 200k daily gallons of municipal water and pesticides needed already to maintain the golf course. Yale has proven many times during their construction projects its ability to protect certain trees which it has an interest in saving.

 A project I have started is working towards a tree ordinance which will help put political measures in place to prevent tree removal on private property, a practice which can be incredibly condescending to any urban forestry efforts. If interested please come up to me and talk! Thank you so much. 

(Draft: still working on my tree list) A curated guide to tree species selection for which trees will thrive most in a warming climate (climate suitability and drought tollerance)

 Small sized trees:

• American hornbeam Hardiness Zone (HZ): 3-9    Lifespan (LS): 50-150 (years)

• Serviceberry  HZ: 2-8   LS: 30-40

• Redbud HZ: 4-9   LS: 20-30

• Hawthorn HZ: 4-8 LS: 175-400

• Trident Maple HZ: 5-9 LS: 50-100

• Sourwood HZ: 5-9 LS: 125-175

• Sassafras HZ: 4-9 LS: 20-30

Medium sized trees: 

• Lacebark Elm HZ: 4-9 LS: 50-150

• Pagoda tree HZ: 4-8 LS: 30-40

• Black gum, Tupelo HZ: 3-9 LS: 150-300

• Goldenrain tree HZ: 5-9 LS: 50 

• Hophornbeam HZ: 3-9 LS:  100-150

• Miyabe Maple HZ:  3-7/8 LS: 80

• Red Buckeye HZ: 4-8 LS: 250-300

Large sized trees:

• Giant Sequoia HZ: 3-9 LS: >3,000

• Coastal Redwood HZ：7-9 LS: >2,000

• Dawn redwood HZ: 3-8 LS: 100-400

• Bald Cyprus HZ: 4-9/10 LS: 600-1200

• Ginkgo biloba (Male) HZ: 2-8 LS: >1,000

• Sweetgum HZ: 5-9 LS: 100-400

• Tulip tree HZ: 4-9 LS: 100-300

• Oaks:

• Burr Oak HZ: 3-8 LS: 100-1,000

• White Oak HZ: 3-9 LS: 200-600

• Southern Red Oak HZ: 6-10 LS: 150-350

• Sawtooth Oak HZ: 5-9 LS: 80-120

• Hackberry   HZ: 2-9 LS: 150-200

• Red maple   HZ: 3-9 LS: 150

• Atlas Cedar   HZ: 6-9 LS: 150-500

• Eastern White Pine   HZ: 3-8 LS: 200-450

• Southern Magnolia   HZ: 6-10 LS: 80-120

• London Planetree   HZ: 5-9 LS: 300

• American Linden   HZ: 4-8 LS: 100-200

• Honey locust   HZ: 3-8 LS: 120-125

• Black walnut   HZ: 4-9 LS: >200

The American Hornbeam is a small native hardwood tree in the beech family. American Hornbeams grow well in shade and have an interesting bark texture. 

The Serviceberry is a small tree which grows well in zones two through eight. 

The Redbud is a native tree which grows well in zones four through nine. 

The Lacebark Elm (Chinese Elm) is my number one choice for a medium sized plot. This deciduous tree grows 30-60 ft tall and equally wide- is hardy: tolerates salt, sand, air pollution, damage to branches in urban settings, and drought and heat (zones 4-9). A very pretty tree, the Lacebark elm has interesting and colorful bark texture year round as well as iconic Elm leaves (figure 1). There are several varieties all of which are unaffected by the Dutch Elm disease (no spraying required, more resistant than the Zelkova Elm). 

Figure 1. Lacebark Elm profile and closeup of leaves. 

The Pagoda tree is originates from Japan. It is a long lived tree with bean-like fruit. New Haven plants them as shade trees and there is one on the Yale Nature Walk. Pagoda trees reach fifty to seventy five feet tall and is categorized by the Urban Resource Initiative as a medium sized tree (figure 2).

Figure 5. Japanese Pagoda tree. 

The Blackgum (Tupelo) is long lived, native, grows well in zones three through nine, and has a tap root. The Blackgum’s fruit supports many animal species and the tree itself is a habitat for birds. 

Giant Sequoia: the largest tree on earth. It’s native range is exclusively in small groves in the Western United states, but careful seed collection and cultivation has lead to individual specimens all over the globe (figure 2). Needle Evergreen tree through zone 8. 

Figure 2. Giant Sequoia (Yale Nature Walk photo).

Dawn Redwoods are extremely easy and low maintenance trees to grow. They work well for shade, wind, and noise screening (figure 3). 

Figure 3. Dawn Redwoods planted on a city street in Baltimore MD. 

The ginkgo (figure 4) is the only tree with fan shaped leaves and is extremely drought tolerant. The leaves turn yellow in Autumn and can be stepped for tea. Male ginkgo fruit is a round seed pod similar to the Sycamore and London Plane trees. Ginkgos live a very long time and have a recognisable bark pattern.

Figure 4. Ginkgo trees. 

The Bald Cypress is a distant relative to the Redwood (figure 6) and native to the East coast. It is a deciduous conifer with pyramidal shape. The main differences from the Redwood are that Balding Cyprus reach one hundred twenty feet verses one hundred sixty feet or more. Bald Cypress have alternating groups of needles which are .75in in length. Zones 4-9 great for wildlife too. 

Figure 6. Bald Cypress tree. 

The sweetgum is a native tree with star shaped leaves and develops seeds in spiky round pods (figure 7).

Figure 7. Sweetgum leaves and pods. 

The Burr Oak is my number one choice for a large deciduous tree because it is extremely heat and drought resistant (figure 8). Burr Oaks can grow up to eighty feet tall and produce the largest acorns of any oak species. Burr Oaks are now being planted in New Haven as street trees through the Urban Resource Initiative. 

Figure 8. Burr Oak. 

The White Oak is the state tree of Connecticut and the premier hardwood which was used in boat building. Bark of the white oak is a light gray color and the leaves have rounded edges. White Oaks are also very drought resistant through hardiness zone 9; the native range encompasses the entire east coast figure 9. 

Figure 9. White Oak, Union College’s West Beach. 

The Red Oak is another native oak species to the East Coast (figure 10). Southern Red Oaks have a slightly larger range into zones  9 and 10. 

Figure 10. Southern Red Oak. 

The Atlas cedar, native to Morocco but is planted worldwide as a tree in ornamental landscapes (figure 11). An evergreen, the blue-green needles add distinctive color to outdoor spaces year round. Zones six through nine. 

Figure 11. Atlas cedar. 

The Eastern White Pine can grow to eighty feet tall in zones three through eight (figure 1). 

Figure . Eastern white pines reach an impressive height and branch all around the trunk. 

The Southern Magnolia is an evergreen with glossy leaves (Figure ).