Akron is wrapping up the first round of tree plantings this week through Project ACORN, a federally funded urban forestry effort, exceeding the number of trees it had expected get in the ground.
The city aimed to plant 150 trees in five high-need neighborhoods, East Akron, Middlebury, Sherbondy Hill, South Akron and Summit Lake, based on neighborhood data, said Jessica Glowczewski, Akron Water Supply Bureau Project Manager and Watershed Superintendent.
"We looked at census blocks and we looked at some of the more obvious ones like urban canopy cover and pervious and impervious surfaces throughout all of these different neighborhoods in Akron," Glowczewski said, "but we also looked at things like health. So we looked at asthma rates, we looked at urban heating indexes, we looked at air quality."
Trees canopy can help reduce risk of asthma and cardiovascular disease in communities, while also helping to keep neighborhoods cool in in the summer months, driving down utility costs at home.
As part of Project ACORN, a cohort of five participate in an 8-week urban forestry training program where they participate in educational workshops tree plantings, and long-term maintenance efforts.
The inaugural team blew Glowczewski's initial expectations out of the water, she said. The team is set to have planted 250 trees by the end of the cohort Wednesday.
"Everybody has been really supportive," Glowczewski said, "especially with there being some uncertainty around the access of federal funds and things that we we've been wildly more successful than I anticipated."
The city spends between $200 and $450 on each tree, Project Manager and Landscape Technician Leah Heiser said, but a greenhouse and two hoop houses planned for one acre at Theiss Woods, a 26-acre property managed by the water bureau. She said that would cut costs on future plantings.
"There's room for growth there too, to be growing some of our perennial plant material for our parks," she said. "So it there will be huge cost savings, especially if we're looking at $450 a tree, not including installation."
Funding for Project ACORN comes from a U.S. Forest Service grant. The Project ACORN team can't access the funds during the government shutdown, but the city has received no indication of its grant funding being rescinded for the project, Akron Sustainability Director Casey Shevlin said.
