TREES AND PEOPLE COALITION
Mission, Vision, and Values
MISSION: Why we exist
- To educate and engage all people to grow and protect urban trees for the benefit of all Seattle communities
VISION: What we wish to achieve
- To protect and grow Seattle’s tree canopy for the health and well-being of current and future generations
- To ensure tree equity and healthy communities for all
- To mitigate climate change and ensure clean air and water
- To honor and learn from the historical and spiritual legacy of our urban forests
- To promote awareness and understanding of human connection to all living beings
- To hold the City of Seattle’s leadership accountable to its commitment to preserve Seattle’s urban forest
- To learn from, support, and collaborate with other tree advocacy and environmental organizations locally, nationally, and globally
VALUES: Our moral compass, what is unique about us, what conduct we practice
- To reach out to ALL communities to ensure diverse voices are echoed in our work
- To work internally and externally to break down systemic patterns and policies that cause urban canopy inequities
- To incorporate each member’s value of trees into our organization’s decision-making and actions
- To maintain a respectful and open approach in all interactions
OUR PEOPLE
OFFICERS
June BlueSpruce, MPH, Chair
June is Chair and co-founded the Trees and People Coalition following years advocating for protection and expansion of Seattle’s tree canopy. With 40 years as a community activist, health educator, and health care research associate, June has extensive experience in project development, management, implementation, and evaluation. She studied social determinants of health, including the substantial impact of environmental inequities. She is author and co-author of numerous published scientific papers and nonfiction essays, including “Reciprocity: Trees and People,” about the impact of colonialism on deforestation in the Pacific Northwest. Her essay “Warning: Whiteness May Be Hazardous to Your Health” was published in the book Whiteness Is Not an Ancestor: Essays on Life and Lineage by white Women in 2020. June is a 40-year resident of Seattle’s Rainier Valley.
David Moehring, AIA NCARB, Vice Chair/SecretaryDavid Moehring is the Senior Capital Planner at the University of Washington Bothell. David manages planning and implementation of the campus master plan and facility development to support the academic and service missions dependent on the campus physical environment. The majority of David's professional architect experience has been in complex building design and renovations, academic facilities programming and planning, civic and commercial building design including new buildings in eight States and six countries. As a seasoned architect since 1989 and a resident within Seattle’s multifamily community, David has realized that the significance of both additional housing density opportunities and the urban forest are key in times of climate resiliency.
Jessica Marden, Secretary
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Cedar Bushue
Janet Way
Jennifer Godfrey
June BlueSpruce, MPH, Chair
June is Chair and co-founded the Trees and People Coalition following years advocating for protection and expansion of Seattle’s tree canopy. With 40 years as a community activist, health educator, and health care research associate, June has extensive experience in project development, management, implementation, and evaluation. She studied social determinants of health, including the substantial impact of environmental inequities. She is author and co-author of numerous published scientific papers and nonfiction essays, including “Reciprocity: Trees and People,” about the impact of colonialism on deforestation in the Pacific Northwest. Her essay “Warning: Whiteness May Be Hazardous to Your Health” was published in the book Whiteness Is Not an Ancestor: Essays on Life and Lineage by white Women in 2020. June is a 40-year resident of Seattle’s Rainier Valley.
David Moehring, AIA NCARB, Vice Chair/SecretaryDavid Moehring is the Senior Capital Planner at the University of Washington Bothell. David manages planning and implementation of the campus master plan and facility development to support the academic and service missions dependent on the campus physical environment. The majority of David's professional architect experience has been in complex building design and renovations, academic facilities programming and planning, civic and commercial building design including new buildings in eight States and six countries. As a seasoned architect since 1989 and a resident within Seattle’s multifamily community, David has realized that the significance of both additional housing density opportunities and the urban forest are key in times of climate resiliency.
Jessica Marden, Secretary
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Cedar Bushue
Janet Way
Jennifer Godfrey
