The City of Wichita is working on an initiative to plant more than 1,000 trees across the city, as part of a long-range tree policy that has been adopted by the City Council.
A study by NASA last year identified 17 “heat islands,” areas of the city that are hotter because they have less tree coverage. The worst heat island extends from Central and Broadway to 21st and Hillside. The city is working with the firm Seeders, Inc to plant trees in the heat island areas.
The city’s arborist, Gary Farris, said a priority will be placed on planting trees in city rights-of-way in the 17 areas. He said the city will promote this and future initiatives on social media and in District Advisory Board meetings to improve public engagement. He said the Environmental Protection Agency has found that increasing the tree canopy in a community is the best way to combat the urban heat island effect. Farris said people living in heat islands are at higher risk for health problems and they could face higher cooling costs and other issues.
The city’s tree policy will also provide guidelines for tree removal and replacement with capital improvement projects, and the city will retain and protect as many trees as possible with these projects. There will be methods for measuring the success of the policy, but Farris said “It may take 30 to 50 years to effectively record the progress that we initiate today.”
City Council Member Brandon Johnson said messaging will be important in this initiative. He said taking these steps now will help the city later, but he doesn’t think there’s a full understanding by the public what this means, and they’re not thinking about the larger, mature trees that benefit neighborhoods.
