Staff member says city has about 4,500 trees and praises volunteers who planted more

A staff member said the city has an estimated 4,500 trees in its urban forest and that city staff and volunteers with the Forestry and Parks Commission planted additional trees on Saturday along Willow Street and Cherry Avenue.

The staff member said the plantings were part of ongoing efforts to care for trees in parks, public spaces and along city streets. "They can lower local temperatures by up to 10 degrees," the staff member said, and added that street trees "reduce storm water runoff by catching rain on their leaves and even increase property values by as much as 15 to 25%." The speaker did not cite sources for those numerical estimates.

The remarks included a personal anecdote: the speaker described a backyard "green fence of hedge and trees" that provides shade and privacy, saying it keeps areas "nice and cool." The staff member thanked specific staff and volunteers by name — Derek Berry, Dan Gates, Jerry Martinez, Todd Baginski, Tammy Murphy, Tristan Canty and Noah Eller — and also acknowledged commissioners John Gammon, Nicholas Johnson, Teresa Hasi (and her son Teddy) and Jean McCall for helping with the planting effort.

City staff described the activity as a volunteer-supported planting to expand street-tree coverage; no formal motions, votes or funding decisions were reported during the remarks. The staff member closed by urging appreciation for the benefits trees bring to residents and pedestrians.

Details given in the remarks were presented as estimates and claims by the speaker and were not independently verified in the meeting transcript.