Joanna Repucci had just flown back from Mexico, where she got a much delayed root canal. Despite her face being visibly puffy from the procedure, Repucci rushed to Phoenix’s historic Garfield neighborhood on a sunny afternoon to complete an important task — checking on trees.
A few weeks earlier, Repucci, a handful of volunteers and dozens of homeowners and renters in the downtown neighborhood dug and planted 140 saplings as a part of a community tree planting project.
The goal is to create cooling corridors to cope with the searing Phoenix sun.
Other neighborhoods in Phoenix have organized similar free tree programs with local authorities and nonprofit organizations.
Most residents have been receptive to the giveaways, and some people even had to be put on waitlists. But for some, free trees are not always welcome.
Repucci said it’s disappointing when people don’t respond to a program that she “poured [her] sweat and tears into.” Many times their complaints confound her, such as when people say they don’t want a desert tree because of the spikes on it.
“Hey, it’s the desert, everything has spikes,” she tells them.
Free tree? No, thanks
Lora Martens manages the urban tree program out of the city of Phoenix’s “heat office” in City Hall. She some people, especially those from lower-income households, don’t want trees because of the costs of maintaining them.
Martens added that people who have to juggle jobs to make ends meet do not want to spend the time or the money on increased water usage and other associated tree upkeep.
“It’s time or it’s money,” Martens said. “That’s the main reason why people would say no. They don’t want to add anything, even if they know that it’s good for them.”
Martens said Phoenix’s demographic makeup presents another challenge, with rental homes making up about half of the housing market. Renters are unlikely to want to take custody of a tree on property they don’t own.
Eva Ordonez Olivas, executive director and CEO of Phoenix Revitalization Corporation, made the same point in a recent video interview with Vox. She explained that renters have little reason to plant trees if it could mean higher water bills and minimal monetary support from the government.
Martens also highlighted another factor at play- that those living along Phoenix’s canals, for example, don’t want trees because of the gathering of people experiencing homelessness. Sometimes, that’s the reason trees get cut down, she said.
She believes a general historical distrust of the city also contributes to the problem. She pointed out how Detroit residents resisted a city tree planting program in 2010, in part because of distrust dating back to the 1960s. After racial unrest in the 1960s, the city began cutting down large numbers of Elm trees tracing it back to Dutch Elm disease, which causes trees to wither and die. Some residents were convinced the city was simply trying to make it easier to conduct surveillance.
“These stories become embedded in the community and then the community just wants nothing to do with it. I’m sure that it’s out there (in Phoenix) a little bit,” Martens said.
One tree goes a long way
Even weeks after planting trees in Garfield, Repucci still helped some residents wrestle their trees into the ground and held several trees for residents to pick up.
She spent the better part of one day planting two trees for an elderly neighbor. She said the worst part of tree planting is lifting the heavy saplings.
Still, she said, the effort is worth it.
A study by Arizona State University found that if the city covers at least a quarter of an outdoor area with trees, it can lower air temperatures by 8 degrees Fahrenheit.
While there are more exhaustive ways to combat the heat, neighborhood tree planting programs can improve the quality of life on the ground more immediately, Repucci said.
“Think about the person who’s walking from the bus up to their apartment for half a mile in 115 degree heat … or using a park, or, frankly, living on the streets,” she said. “Those people’s day-to-day life will be improved with more trees and more shade.”
Being a resident of Phoenix without a vehicle for the past several years, Repucci has first-hand experience walking around the hot city.
“Having shade when you are on foot makes a big difference,” she said.
Who pays?
Community tree planting funding has been scattered, coming from varied sources within the city. In Garfield, for example, funding for the most recent round of tree planting came from Arizona Public Service Co., the state’s largest electricity provider.
In 2018, Garfield got money to plant 60 trees from the nonprofit Keep Phoenix Beautiful. In 2019, the Arizona Sikh Community gave the neighborhood 220 trees in celebration of the birthday of a Sikh religion founder.
Tree planting largely took a break during the COVID-19 pandemic but has since been revived with the help of the city’s tree planting programs. The city has now secured $6 million for the next two years to spend on tree planting in neighborhoods and around schools. However, it has not yet decided how to distribute the money.
The money, Martens said, is part of federal COVID-19 relief support to communities.
“We’ve made the case that if people spend a lot of time outside and have access to parks, they may be healthier,” she said.
Choose your tree wisely
Back at her house, Repucci introduced Phernanda, her feather bush tree. The “Ph,” she explained, references the city of Phoenix. She got the tree during a community planting event two-and-a-half years ago and it now stands 12 feet tall, springing out of her fence wall.
Trees for community tree planting programs are selected for how much shade they provide and how much water they use. Native trees like Mesquite and Palo Verde as well as Ironwoods and Oak are popular because they require less care and nurturing than other species.
Other good options are the Chinese Elm and Chinese Pistache due to their fast growth speed, as well as the Texas Mountain Laurel, which is prized for its beautiful flowers.
Repucci said the most popular choice in her neighborhood so far has been the Red Push Pistache because of its unique red leaves.
Contact the reporter at orithy@asu.edu.
