Saving the Forest City: Tree Summit to engage advocates, tree commissions in reforesting solutions
As the region continues to face a declining tree canopy—down to 18% in Cleveland and 28% in Cuyahoga County—the upcoming sold-out third annual Cuyahoga Tree Summit represents a step in fostering dialogue, sharing knowledge, and inspiring action to save and grow the Forest City.
The summit will take place Friday, Sept. 27 at the Independence Civic Center, bringing together tree advocates, municipal leaders, and environmental experts to address the needs of the county’s canopy and the critical role of trees in community health and climate resilience.
The summit will focus on the needs of local tree advocacy groups and municipal tree commissions. Roy Larick, a member of the Euclid Shade Tree Commission and one of the event's six co-organizers, says the meeting will encourage municipal tree commission members to get to know each other and work together.
“These kinds of tree commissions are resident populated,” he explains. “The commissions all derive from ordinances that municipalities passed, but they are populated by residents, usually not employees.”
Moses Cleaveland white oak, 1545 S Green Rd, South EuclidAfter focusing on academic experts in the first year, followed by neighborhood residents in the second symposium, Larick says working with municipal tree commissions in the third iteration made sense.
“Our first summit in 2022 was a top-down academic symposium on nature-based means to enhance the canopy in Cuyahoga County,” he says. “The second year, we turned it upside down and went into the neighborhoods to recruit residents interested in trees and find out what the neighborhoods need. After working with the Moses Cleaveland Trees, I contacted people in tree commissions and advocacy groups to help me find the [lost] sites of old trees, so I wanted [to involve them] this year.”
The 2024 summit will feature eight interactive discussion sessions—each with three to four tree professionals serving as panelists and facilitators. They will lead conversations on topics such as deer predation, planting on private property, engaging community members in tree advocacy, ensuring diversity in tree commissions, and networking among advocacy groups.
“We have about 28 panelists and they are top-notch,” Larick says. “They represent the professional brain trust of trees in Cuyahoga County.”
The event is designed for representatives from existing tree commissions, as well as service directors and mayors from cities without commissions—hoping to spark interest in developing additional tree advocacy groups.
Some cities without tree commissions include Beachwood, Rocky River, North Royalton, and Cleveland Heights.
Interest in urban forestry and tree preservation in the region is the highest it’s been in more than a centuryPreserving and growing the tree canopy
Larick stresses the importance of both maintaining existing trees and continuing to plant new ones.
“We're emphasizing the maintenance of the canopy that exists—keeping trees upright, keeping them healthy,” he explains. “It's just too easy to take trees down these days.”
Larik says interest in urban forestry and tree preservation in the region is the highest it’s been in more than a century, partially because of concerns about climate change and the evidence of the tree canopy’s positive impact on community health, and partially because of increased available funding for tree preservation.
“Most of us are concerned about climate change and climate resilience,” he says. “As we get warmer and have more bouts of extreme heat, how do you become resilient to it? Trees offer a green infrastructure, basically a living infrastructure.”
He adds that it’s now common knowledge that a healthy tree canopy improves quality of life, especially in urban areas.
“Studies show that a person growing up in a leafy community, like Lyndhurst, statistically has a longer life than a person growing up in a less tree-dense area, like Hough or Glenville,” he cites as an example.
Working together
Larick says the event organizers hope the event will inspire collaboration and action. “At the end of the day, we hope that there will be a threshold of interest among municipal tree commissions to implement projects based on what they learn from the summit,” he says, “and also communicate with each other.”
With this group working together to rebuild and preserve the region’s tree canopy, Larick says he is hopeful all of the participants will leave—ready for action.
“Tree advocates of all kinds will leave the summit with the latest solutions for conserving and planting trees across Cuyahoga County,” he says. “Municipal tree commissions, normally working in isolation, should be energized to collaborate in service to our communities.”
