Cities across the globe and here in the Northeast are spending millions of dollars to plant trees and increase urban canopy cover. Why? Because trees provide cooling shade, protect water quality, purify the air, store carbon, support wildlife, and—perhaps most importantly—improve the mental and physical health of residents and visitors.
Trees made the City of Bangor, one-time lumber capital of the world. Today, we are fortunate to still be, as Thoreau described us, “a star on the edge of night,” a city surrounded by woods. We have shady, tree-lined streets and parks and even a city forest. But there are some worrisome trends that, if allowed to continue, jeopardize quality of life for both current and future residents.
The first trend is the belief that cutting down the woods is the best way to solve the housing crisis. Many trees and shrubs have been cleared out of fear, because they are associated with the unhoused population. Meanwhile, new housing developments have been built in formerly wooded areas, such as the new “Maine Woods” complex off Lancaster Avenue. And more are proposed, such as the city’s misguided rezoning of land off Grandview Avenue from park and open space to a multifamily and service district. Open space that isn’t lawn is already rare within the city limits, and much of what does exist is fragmented and inaccessible. According to our Tree Equity Score from American Forests, the parts of Bangor where the most people live have the least tree canopy cover. If we think creatively, proactively, and collaboratively, we can find plenty of space to build housing without sacrificing what little natural vegetation cover we have left. We can re-develop areas that are already cleared and paved, and plan new housing in parallel with green corridors and trails that connect people to nearby nature. (See: Bangor Mall area and Broadway commercial strip.)
The second trend is fragmentation. The existing scraps of forest are not well connected. Each parcel cleared is another lost stepping stone of habitat, another broken corridor of green for the wildlife and birds that many people enjoy in their backyards, that the city claims to celebrate. Yet wildlife, too, is being affected by the loss of canopy cover. Forest-dwelling birds like black-throated green warblers, ovenbirds, and hermit thrush have declined in Bangor in recent decades. Each lost scrap puts pressure on the remaining scraps, making them more vulnerable to invasive species. (See: the new and nearly always empty parking lot at Essex Woods.)
A third trend is weather. This winter’s repeated storms toppled many mature trees in city parks and on private land. Even with replanting, it will take decades for young trees to grow into the canopy. (See: Cascade Park, Prentiss Woods, Kenduskeag Stream Park, Brown Woods.) We can expect more damaging wind and ice in the future, making a community effort to preserve existing large trees an urgent priority. We need to consider trees as assets, not liabilities. We can plant smaller, native trees and shrubs under powerlines, and convert lawns to perennial gardens. If anything is to be learned from the efforts of other cities, it is that protecting and enhancing existing plant cover is cheaper, easier, and brings more immediate benefits than trying to create new forests and parks from scratch. (See: Downtown and the Bangor Waterfront.)
A fourth trend is the continued mindset that values land only for its “development” potential. Land with natural cover of trees, shrubs, and wildflowers, however weedy and degraded it may be, still provides habitat, flood protection, shade, carbon sequestration and storage, air purification, beauty, and quality of life. (See: Grandview Avenue, Mount Hope & Garland, Stillwater Avenue…)
Trees are part of this city’s past. If we make them part of its future, we can be the greenest star shining on the edge of the North Woods night, a healthy place to live, for everyone.
Catherine Schmitt 