April 3, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
Photograph by Dan Smith, Casey Trees
Long before thousands of pink-blooming cherry trees turned the nation’s capital into a springtime tourist draw, Washington was known as the “City of Trees.” Its streets were well shaded, the parks lush and leafy.
But the 20th century was hard on Washington’s trees, as disease and development took their toll.
In 2000, a study showed that the capital had lost 64 percent of its tree cover since 1973.
Alarmed by the loss of leaves, Betty Casey, a local philanthropist, created a $50-million endowment in 2001 to support efforts to reverse that trend.
Casey Trees, the charity founded with her money, has since planted more than 5,000 trees in Washington, but its efforts to increase the city’s shade go beyond physically putting more roots in the ground.
In 2002, Casey Trees engaged hundreds of volunteers to conduct an inventory of the city’s more than 105,000 streetside trees and some 25,000 unused tree wells. This vital information is now used to plan the city’s greening efforts.
The charity has also trained more than 500 “citizen foresters” in tree planting and maintenance — volunteers who now serve as tree stewards all across the city.
“There are so many physical and social benefits of trees, but people tend to forget about them until they’re gone,” says Mark Buscaino, executive director of Casey Trees. “A tree planting is a great way to get a community engaged and involved. It brings out the best in people.”
In the past year, the organization held more than 1,400 plantings.
Here Jim Woodworth, director of tree planting and stewardship at Casey Trees, helps volunteers plant an oak tree on the grounds of a Washington Baptist church.
