Urban forests provide important resources, but redlining has made them inaccessible for some city dwellers

By Khalilah Brown-Dean,

James Szkobel-Wolff, Zshekinah Collier, Vanessa de la Torre

Published November 24, 2021 at 7:00 AM EST

1 of 2 — URI crew members prep for tree planting

(URI / Steve Outlaw)

2 of 2 — URI team members deliver a new crop of urban trees

(URI / From left: Tabari Hashim, William Tisdale)

This episode originally aired on August 11th, 2021

Trees are one of New England’s most treasured resources. But in Connecticut cities, a painful history of racism and redlining has led to fewer trees. During this holiday week, we look back at a show from this summer about our urban tree canopy in Connecticut.

And, our region loses nearly 38 square miles of forestland each year. How can we fight deforestation in our backyard?

GUESTS:

Drew Goldsman - Urban Conservation Director for the Nature Conservancy in Connecticut
Caroline Scanlan - Greenskills Manager at the Urban Resources Initiative in New Haven
David R. Foster - Senior Conservationist at Harvard University's Harvard Forest and President and Board Chair of the Highstead Foundation.

If you live in New Haven and want to support urban forestry, visit Urban Resources Initiative’s website to learn how to request a free tree planting.

This week's episode was produced by James Szkobel-Wolff, Zshekinah Collier, Catie Talarski and Vanessa de la Torre. Our interns are Abe Levine, and Dylan Reyes.

And from all of our team, we'd like to wish you a holiday season full of connection, peace and understanding.