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Fellow Seattleites, I’ve excellent news: Our metropolis’s timber are usually not doomed.
Regardless of what you might have heard, Seattle’s just lately handed tree ordinance won’t finish Emerald Metropolis’s fame for being inexperienced.
There’s no denying that Seattle’s tree cover is shrinking. The Seattle Workplace of Sustainability and Atmosphere discovered that our metropolis has misplaced 255 acres of tree cover since 2016 — concerning the measurement of Inexperienced Lake. Total, cover cowl is down to twenty-eight.1%, notably in need of the 30% objective Seattle goals to hit by 2037.
To fight this decline, the Seattle Metropolis Council handed an replace to its tree safety laws final Could. The 2023 Tree Safety Ordinance greater than tripled the variety of timber in Seattle’s regulatory purview. It permits two small tree removals from personal property each three years, an enchancment over the previous legislation which permitted three cuts per 12 months. To take away timber with a trunk wider than 12 inches, builders should plant a alternative or face fines ranging as much as tens of hundreds of {dollars}.
These legislative modifications solely profit Seattle’s timber, however some media protection has framed the ordinance as detrimental, if not an outright “chainsaw” within the phrases of the Seattle Instances editorial board.
Some studies on the invoice have portrayed the municipal code replace as an obstacle to tree regeneration and an affront to local weather activism. Readers are led to consider that the ordinance was snuck by means of the Council by nefarious businessmen intent on orchestrating a city-wide clearcut. Some have even gone so far as to name it the best risk to Seattle’s city cover in many years.
Such conspiratorial framing is inaccurate. No a part of the invoice reduces tree protections in any means. Opposite to some native studies, there is no such thing as a provision that makes it simpler to chop timber throughout the starting stage of a growth. Others, together with Councilmember Alex Pedersen, state that builders at the moment are allowed to construct on as much as 85% of so much; that is incorrect because it fails to contemplate different Metropolis ordinances containing open space and walkway necessities that considerably decrease that proportion. The invoice solely strengthens Metropolis tree protections and rules.
This isn’t to say that the ordinance is right. Environmentalists could be annoyed that its modifications don’t embody a unilateral restriction on tree chopping. Nevertheless, we must also acknowledge that the invoice is a compromise, the results of lengthy negotiations between reasonably priced housing advocates, builders, and arborists, all of whom deserve a say within the matter.
Excellent can’t be the enemy of the nice. Below the brand new rules, tree chopping by builders is now restricted by important fiscal constraints, which is an objectively constructive change for Seattle’s timber. Smearing such enhancements solely serves to generate dissatisfaction with our authorities and make future laws tougher to enact.
It is very important acknowledge how good we’ve issues comparatively. Seattle continues to be extremely inexperienced relative to different large cities: Our measly 28% cover cowl nonetheless places us within the high ten American city canopies in response to American Forests. Moreover, we’ve a mayor dedicated to tree safety, who co-created this ordinance and signed an government order final March that requires each wholesome tree faraway from Metropolis property to get replaced with not less than three new ones.
So, whereas environmentalists needs to be ready to proceed engaged on defending Seattle’s city forest, we have to have a good time our wins after we get them. The very fact is that fewer of Seattle’s timber shall be minimize down due to this invoice. Let’s take its passage for what it’s – a small however significant victory – and stay up for making additional progress in the direction of retaining Seattle deserving of its emerald moniker.
Jack Noble (Visitor Contributor)
Jack Noble is a pupil at Wesleyan College majoring in Authorities, Economics, and Historical past. Born and raised in Seattle, he’s energetic in native politics and has an avid curiosity in city coverage. He’s an editor and author for Wesleyan’s Enterprise Evaluate and the Arcadia Political Evaluate.
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