CURRENT PROJECTS
We have ambitious goals for 2025. We intend to start several new projects to serve our communities, including:
- Trees for Seattle’s Future, a project to educate and engage young children, their families, and communities about the importance of urban trees
- The Trees and People Award, an annual program that recognizes Seattle architects, landscape designers, developers, and community advocates and groups who have successfully integrated trees with urban density
- A Public Media Campaign to raise awareness of the urgent need to preserve trees across Seattle
- Canopies of Green and Affordable Housing, a a video project to showcase affordable housing developments that preserve existing trees and include on-site green spaces
PAST ACTIVITIES
Seattle Needs Trees Petition
Seattle is losing tree canopy at an alarming rate. The Tree Protection Ordinance (126821) that the City Council passed in May 2023 does not protect trees on lots undergoing development. It does not align with city goals regarding tree protection, environmental equity, and climate change mitigation.
On August 9, 2023, Trees and People Coalition, TreePAC, and the Duwamish Valley Neighborhood Preservation Coalition filed a petition with the Washington Growth Management Hearings Board to review the Tree Protection Ordinance and require the City to:
Our legal team made an excellent case, but the Board ruled against us in February 2024. Efforts to improve legal protection for Seattle's urban forest are ongoing.
Seattle is losing tree canopy at an alarming rate. The Tree Protection Ordinance (126821) that the City Council passed in May 2023 does not protect trees on lots undergoing development. It does not align with city goals regarding tree protection, environmental equity, and climate change mitigation.
On August 9, 2023, Trees and People Coalition, TreePAC, and the Duwamish Valley Neighborhood Preservation Coalition filed a petition with the Washington Growth Management Hearings Board to review the Tree Protection Ordinance and require the City to:
- Meet the City’s Comprehensive Plan goals
- Amend the Ordinance so that Seattle can increase its tree canopy (currently 28%) to 30% by 2037 and to 40% over time
- Update its analysis of the environmental impacts of the Ordinance to include the impact of 2023 City amendments and new state laws (especially the Middle Housing Bill, HB 1110)
Our legal team made an excellent case, but the Board ruled against us in February 2024. Efforts to improve legal protection for Seattle's urban forest are ongoing.