THE LEAFLET

The month of April is perhaps one of the busiest times at Casey Trees. Not only are we planting trees, leading invasive removals, reaching out at community events, advocating for tree protections, and teaching in schools all around the city – we are also taking the time to look back at the previous year to see the impact we’ve made and the challenges we still face.

This is why we publish our Tree Report Card, Casey Trees’ independent evaluation of DC’s urban forest. It looks at where our successes have been over the past year and highlights where improvements can be made. We publish this report each year to guide our efforts, and those of our partners, to measure progress toward achieving the District’s 40% tree canopy goal, and to inform on the health and condition of DC’s trees. This year, the District received an overall grade of B+.

This year’s Tree Report Card specifically focuses on the value that our tree canopy brings to our local schools. Trees have been proven to significantly improve critical thinking, reduce anxiety, increase teamwork and collaboration skills, and improve our physical and mental health. Our schools influence future generations and how they value trees, greenspaces, forests, and the natural world. Unfortunately, DC’s school tree canopy averages just 13%, far below the overall DC average of 37%, and well short of our city-wide 40% tree canopy goal.

Read more about our schools’ tree canopy in our 2023 Tree Report Card, and learn how DC faired in our sub-metrics of tree coverage, tree planting, tree health, and tree protection.

Recently, Kelly Collins-Choi, our Director of Policy and Land Conservation, and John Boland, our Policy & Advocacy Associate, had the pleasure of being guests on the Hola Cultura Podcast. The podcast focuses on climate related issues effecting marginalized communities here in Washington, DC; this episode covered our Tree Report Card and some of the recommendations that our team is suggesting the District make to support and protect trees.

One of our recommendations is that the Special Tree threshold is lowered from 44” circumference to 25” circumference. “We recognize that DC is growing, and that’s great. It would be a foolish mission to try and get in the way of any of that. We just want to try and make sure that development is happening sustainably. So, things like reducing the special tree threshold are just steps in a process to make sure we’re giving trees the chance they need to grow. We also work with developers directly reviewing site proposals and pointing out places that they can replant trees if they need to cut any down on the site,” Boland shared.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who joined us at the 2024 Canopy Awards! It was a pleasure to host our volunteers, donors, community members, and friends for a night of honoring those who have been working tirelessly to make a difference in their communities. Between the live jazz band, photobooth, delicious food, and celebrating DC’s trees – the Canopy Awards was packed to the brim with good fun and great people.

Having such a vibrant crowd there to honor our award winners really made the night something special. If you couldn’t make it Thursday night – we saved a little bit of the party just for you! Stay tuned for our recap video and full photo album releasing in next week’s leaflet, for now enjoy some snapshots and watch the honoree videos here!