Sacramento Bee: Sacramento’s tree canopy reflects the city’s inequities. How a $250 million plan could help

Sacramento is the so-called city of trees, but for many neighborhoods, that designation rings false.

In some of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods, lush tree canopies provide shade and improved air quality, while low- and moderate-income areas such as Meadowview, Del Paso Heights, Parkway and Valley Hi suffer in the scorching sun.

A new bill introduced earlier this year by Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, aims to change that. The Trees for Residential Energy and Economic Savings Act, or TREES Act, would create a new program in the U.S. Department of Energy that would invest $250 million over the next five years to plant thousands of trees in residential neighborhoods across the country.

During a news conference Thursday highlighting the proposed law at the City Church of Sacramento in Oak Park, the longtime congresswoman stressed that bringing robust tree canopies to underserved neighborhoods could improve air quality, lower energy costs and mitigate the effects of climate change.

“The benefits of planting trees are innumerable,” Matsui said. “A thriving tree canopy can be transformational for Sacramento families and neighborhoods.”

Through the bill’s proposed program — which would require a minimum of 300,000 trees to be planted annually — utility companies and nonprofit groups, for example, would be able to apply for cost-sharing grants to plant trees. That would be a boon for organizations such as the Sacramento Tree Foundation, which has planted 1.5 million trees throughout the region since it was founded in 1982, according to executive director Jessica Sanders.

“Trees are a simple but powerful way to grow the resilience of under-canopied neighborhoods while also addressing inequities found in cities all over the nation,” Sanders told the crowd at the press conference.

Studies have found that tree-lined streets are associated with better overall health. More trees improve air quality, contributing to lower rates of asthma and obesity, keep communities cooler with shade and can mitigate the extreme effects of climate change in a future where days will be hotter and drier.

On the day of the news conference, Sacramento faced 103-degree heat, with temperatures expected to soar as high as 112 degrees by the weekend. In just the last week, much of the Pacific Northwest has faced record-breaking waves of heat, roasting communities at an unprecedented level and killing more than 100 people in Oregon alone.

And researchers have consistently found that lackluster tree canopies, excessive heat and poor air quality disproportionately impact communities of color and low-income neighborhoods.

Neighborhoods with a majority of people of color have 33% fewer trees on average than majority white communities, according to national conservation organization American Forests. And areas where an overwhelming majority of residents live in poverty have 41% less tree canopy than communities where few are low-income, the organization found.

And because fewer trees can mean hotter temperatures, low-income households can see more expensive energy bills , which can weigh heavily on tight budgets. One 2014 study found that low-income households typically spend 16.3% of their total annual income on utility bills, compared to 3.5% for other households.

“I can walk in many parts of my ward where, you can walk through entire neighborhoods, and really not have any shade on a day like today,” said SMUD board member Dave Tamayo. “The social cost, the health cost, the energy cost, are incredible for these neighborhoods.”

At the end of the news conference, the speakers picked up shovels for a tree-planting ceremony. Scooping from a pile of dark soil, they packed dirt around a fledgling oak tree in the parched-brown lawn of the church.

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